{"id":237,"date":"2026-05-08T06:07:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T06:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liftandletgo.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/do-you-have-a-favorite-child-a-new-study-may-answer-why\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T06:07:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T06:07:56","slug":"do-you-have-a-favorite-child-a-new-study-may-answer-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liftandletgo.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/do-you-have-a-favorite-child-a-new-study-may-answer-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you have a favorite child? A new study may answer why"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just because you say you don\u2019t have a favorite child, doesn\u2019t mean everyone around you can\u2019t tell whom <\/strong>you like best. <\/p>\n

Take the episode of \u201cThe Crown\u201d in which Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, asks Queen Elizabeth II if she knows which child is her favorite. She insists she loves them all equally in this fictionalized account of the British royal family, but Philip tells her that the family members know whom she prefers. <\/p>\n

Birth order, temperament and gender may all affect the way you parent your child as well as if you favor one over the other, according to a study published Thursday by the American Psychological Association. <\/p>\n

The study was a meta-analysis in which researchers analyzed data from 30 studies and 14 databases with information on more than 19,000 people. Besides taking note of age, personality traits and gender, researchers also looked at how parents reported their overall treatment, control, resource allocation, and positive and negative interactions with each child.<\/s> <\/p>\n

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Related article<\/span> Parents are worried that their anger might be influencing their children. Here\u2019s what experts say<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Can you guess who tended to be the favorites? <\/p>\n

Daughters and children who were more conscientious and agreeable were likely to get better treatment from their parents. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe next time you\u2019re left wondering whether your sibling is the golden child, remember there is likely more going on behind the scenes than just a preference for the eldest or youngest,\u201d said lead study author Dr. Alexander Jensen, an associate professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, in a news release. \u201cIt might be about responsibility, temperament or just how easy or hard you are to deal with.\u201d <\/p>\n

Impact of favoritism<\/h3>\n

Favoritism can be temporary and change depending on the circumstances, said Dr. Ellen Weber Libby, a retired clinical psychologist and author of \u201cThe Favorite Child: How a Favorite Impacts Every Family Member for Life.\u201d <\/p>\n

Maybe the child you favor has a quality that reminds you of a beloved grandmother you\u2019ve lost. Or it could be the child is attuned to your emotions and lends a helping hand after a hard day, Weber Libby added. <\/p>\n

You can love all your children, but it doesn\u2019t mean you are immune from preferring to spend time with one over the other or treating them differently. <\/p>\n

The kids who get the preferential treatment tend to have some advantages compared with those who don\u2019t, according to the study. <\/p>\n

Favorite children have better mental health, better grades, more ability to regulate their emotions and healthier relationships, the study found. <\/p>\n

But being the preferred child isn\u2019t always such a good deal, Weber Libby said. <\/p>\n

Favored children might get overindulged, which does not teach them good life skills for later in life. They also might get the message that they have to perform in certain ways to get attention and care, which may keep them from living freely, she said. <\/p>\n

Those who aren\u2019t favored can sometimes \u2013\u2013 but certainly not always \u2013\u2013 find themselves with more difficulties in adulthood, Weber Libby said. <\/p>\n

\u201cChildren who are treated less favorably are particularly at risk for greater substance use, poorer mental health, poorer family relationships. They also tend to get in trouble more at school and home,\u201d Jensen added. <\/p>\n

How do you keep things fair and square?<\/h3>\n

The key is to be open and honest with yourself about any preferential treatment that may arise and act accordingly, Jensen said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge is that that siblings are different from one another and have to be parented differently to some degree \u2014 but hopefully in healthy and appropriate ways,\u201d he said. \u201cThese findings matter because they give parents a launching point to think about which of their children they may tend to treat more or less favorably.\u201d <\/p>\n

If children understand why they are being treated differently than their siblings, they are less affected by such action, Jensen said. <\/p>\n

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Related article<\/span> Even if your kids roll their eyes, keep making jokes, research says<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For example, Jensen\u2019s oldest daughter came to him when she was about 6 years old and complained that she had fewer dresses than her younger sister. He pointed out to her that her sister was getting her hand-me-downs, which explained why she had more dresses. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe looked at me and said, \u2018Oh, that makes sense, OK.\u2019 Then she jumped up and ran off to play,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI hope parents will use our study as a catalyst to consider how they may treat their children differently, then work to make sure those differences are fair and understood by their children,\u201d Jensen said. <\/p>\n

It is also important that you be ready to hear when you might be doling out extra privileges or harsher responses based on your preferences, Weber Libby said. Keep an open mind when your partner, family members or friends point out differences in your parenting and be ready to correct it. <\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to ask your kids how they are doing. Even if they don\u2019t say it outright, your kids will let you know if they think things are unfair between them and their siblings,\u201d Jensen said. \u201cIf that\u2019s the case, try not to be defensive, but rather try to have a discussion about it.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n

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Just because you say you don\u2019t have a favorite child, doesn\u2019t mean everyone around you can\u2019t tell whom you like best. Take the episode of \u201cThe Crown\u201d in which Prince…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftandletgo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftandletgo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftandletgo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftandletgo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftandletgo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/liftandletgo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftandletgo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftandletgo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftandletgo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftandletgo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}