Sorry, but you can’t blame your children’s genes

In the light of the findings of the human genome project, however, that idea is no longer defensible – as the leading psychologist Ken Richardson recently pointed out in the house magazine of the psychology profession. On the contrary, the implication of the unimportance of genes is that if we changed society in the right ways, we could virtually eradicate not only low academic performance and mental illness but also criminality and problems such as substance abuse.

(...) cycles of underachievement and distress can be broken. Sticking with the genetic story holds out no hope.

Mental health is largely improved by loving and playful parenting. Equally, mental illness is often caused by maltreatment and social disadvantage. In one study, a person who had suffered five or more kinds of maltreatment was 193 times more likely to become schizophrenic compared with someone who suffered no maltreatment. It’s the same for other mental illnesses. In the best study following children from an early age, nine out of 10 who were maltreated had developed a mental illness by the age of 18.

This contrasts with the fact that, by 2011, there had been 115 genetic studies unable to find any convincing evidence of a connection. It is the same with studies since then, including those for intelligence and personality.

We need parenting classes that help mothers and fathers identify how they are repeating the negative patterns of their forebears. As the world’s fifth richest society, Britain can afford to put in place the necessary support. Austria, for instance, has long provided substantial finance to parents who want to take time off work to care for their children.

Politicians often play on our desire to improve children’s material circumstances. If only we could see that once a basic level of material security has been achieved, it is far more important to pass love and playfulness down the generations than property, or stocks and shares.

Com as devidas distâncias necessárias a este tipo de investigações que tendem a promover uma verdade para além da validade das conclusões, este parece-me um estudo importante com conclusões já demonstradas por mais que um país e que devia ser objecto de atenção e instrumento de mudança.