Parenting Styles Linked With Workplace Behavior; Can Parents Be Accountable For Job Problems of Their Children?

Having troubles in your job can actually be linked to how you were brought up by your parents. A study has found a connection between parenting styles and how your children behave in the workplace when they come of age.

"It seems cliché, but, once again, we end up blaming mom for everything in life. It really is about both parents, but because mothers are typically the primary caregivers of the children, they usually have more influence on their children," according to Dr. Peter Harms, as per NDTV. Harms is a researcher from the University of Alabama and an assistant professor in management in its Culverhouse College of Commerce.

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Parents' Impact On Children

Science Daily reported that Harms and his colleagues examined the relationships between managers and employees in the workplace. The researchers looked specifically into how attachment styles influence the reaction of employees to their bosses.

This particular study was based on earlier work by psychoanalyst John Bowlby who looked into the response of parents when their babies cried for help, according to the report. Bowlby reportedly believed that how parents treated their children would eventually affect their children's relationships in the long run. People who had unreliable parents were said to have anxious or avoidant attachment depending on how they cope with distress.

Bosses And Parents

"Your boss is sort of like your parent," said Harms, as quoted by Times of India. Harms said that they found that having supportive bosses had a positive effect on anxious employees but anxious employees who had unsupportive bosses experienced greater stress and exhibited poorer performance.

According to NDTV, Harms said that they found that for employees with a secure or avoidant attachment behavior, bosses mattered less. Employees who had avoidant attachment "just simply don't care." Harms and his colleagues' study was published in the journal Human Relations.