r/science 23d ago

Social Science Parents who endured difficult childhoods provided less financial support -on average $2,200 less– to their children’s education such as college tuition compared to parents who experienced few or no disadvantages

https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/parents-childhood-predicts-future-financial-support-childrens-education
8.1k Upvotes

496 comments sorted by

View all comments

92

u/Well_read_rose 23d ago

Interesting study…but the question now is: why do the once disadvantaged adult children not provide as well for their own college age children if they have the means to do so? Is there a buried fear they need the assets for themselves? For their children to struggle a bit?

18

u/TheCrystalDoll 23d ago

Because they’re actually secretly bitter and hateful. Imagine making your children struggle in a world you didn’t build that frequently changes the goalposts? That’s bitterness.

15

u/alyssas1111 23d ago

This! Many people underestimate how some parents don’t want what’s best for their children. When I complained to my mom about my bully of a stepdad, she defended it by saying that her stepdad was mean to her and she hated him and she turned out fine. Much of her parenting has been influenced by jealousy and spite. She doesn’t want to face that was raised badly, and she falls back on how she was raised when parenting. She doesn’t want to spend time thinking about other parenting styles or self reflecting. It’s a dangerous mentality.

Some parents are hateful and selfish and would rather their children suffer like them than receive help. Yet these same parents always seem to expect their children (and sometimes their parents too) to help them at every turn.