Parents often worry about how today’s decisions might affect their children years down the line. Now, new research suggests that parenting style, particularly emotional warmth from fathers, may be linked to teenagers’ mental health outcomes over time.
Two new studies exploring parental attachment and parenting behaviours have found that emotional warmth appears protective, while rejection and over-protection were associated with increased risks of mental health difficulties in adolescents.
Both show associations rather than direct cause and effect, but the findings add to growing evidence that how parents relate to their children emotionally may matter well into the teenage years.
What did the adolescent mental health study find?
The largest study, published this week in BMC Psychology, followed 8,842 adolescents over a one year period between 2022 and 2023.
Researchers assessed parenting styles, including emotional warmth, rejection and over-protection, alongside measures of anxiety, depression and broader mental health challenges such as academic stress, hostility and emotional instability.
They identified three overall mental health profiles among teenagers: low, moderate and severe.
Both maternal and paternal rejection and over-protection were associated with increased risks of multiple mental health problems. Emotional warmth from parents, by contrast, was found to be protective.
Notably, emotional warmth from fathers was linked to improvements in teenagers’ overall mental health trajectories over time.
The researchers reported that paternal warmth significantly increased the likelihood of adolescents moving from moderate to low mental health difficulty profiles.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, maternal rejection and over-protection were associated with a greater likelihood of worsening mental health outcomes. Maternal rejection showed the strongest adverse association in the study.
The authors concluded that “maternal and paternal parenting styles exerted distinct influences on adolescent mental problems” and suggested that future interventions should differentiate between maternal and paternal roles.
How attachment style may shape parenting behaviour
A second study, published this month in Frontiers in Psychology, explored how parents’ own attachment styles were linked to their parenting behaviours.
Researchers identified four parental attachment profiles, based on levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance, among parents of school-aged children.
Parents with low attachment anxiety and avoidance demonstrated significantly greater acceptance in their parenting than other groups. Those with higher attachment anxiety were more likely to display rejecting behaviours.
No differences were found between mothers and fathers in terms of how attachment profiles were distributed.
Together, the two studies suggest a possible pathway. Parents’ internal attachment patterns may influence how they relate to their children, which in turn is associated with adolescents’ mental health outcomes.
What does “emotional warmth” mean?
Emotional warmth typically refers to:
Expressing affection and praiseListening and responding empatheticallyShowing consistent support and encouragementBeing emotionally available during challenges
Rejection may include criticism, hostility or emotional distance, while over-protection can involve excessive control or limiting independence beyond what is developmentally appropriate.
It is important to note that parenting exists within wider pressures. Many parents, particularly mothers, often carry a heavier mental load and may show over-protective behaviours out of concern, stress or fear for their child’s wellbeing.
What does this mean for parents now?
These findings do not suggest that one parent is solely responsible for a child’s mental health, nor do they prove that specific parenting styles directly cause anxiety or depression.
Both studies identify associations, not causation. Cultural factors may also influence parenting norms and adolescent experiences, meaning results may not translate identically to every family.
However, the research does reinforce a broader message seen across child development studies: that consistent emotional warmth and supportive relationships are linked to more positive outcomes for children and teenagers.
For parents navigating the complex world of adolescence, this may offer reassurance rather than pressure.
Small, everyday moments of connection, whether that is checking in after school, listening without judgement, or showing affection, can matter.
As conversations around teen mental health continue, these studies highlight that parenting style is one of several modifiable factors that may help support young people as they grow.
And while no parent gets it right all the time, fostering warmth, alongside appropriate boundaries, could be one of the most powerful tools families have.