Ilaria Rosella Pagliaro A new Italian study reveals how parental affection or overprotection shapes young adults’ happiness through anxiety and anger.
A recent Italian study published in the Journal of Psychology shines a light on a quiet but powerful force behind adult happiness: our emotional bond with our parents. While many point to success, freedom, or money, researchers suggest that two emotions — anxiety and anger — might actually be the real puppeteers of adult satisfaction, shaped early by our upbringing.
According to the study, overprotective parenting tends to fuel anxiety, which in turn undermines well-being. On the flip side, a warm and caring parental approach appears to foster better anger regulation, leading to greater emotional balance and contentment.
The power of emotional bonding
That deep connection — the one between a parent and a child — begins long before we even realize it. Parental bonding isn’t just about physical presence; it’s emotional closeness, attunement, consistency, and a capacity to meet a child’s needs with empathy. It lays the foundation for inner security, trust in others, and emotional stability.
But when this bond is shaky — because of emotional unavailability, inconsistency, or outright neglect — the fallout can be long-lasting. Adults who experienced disrupted or insecure attachment may face anxiety, relational struggles, or behavioral issues later on.
The good news? This bond is not set in stone. Even in adolescence or adulthood, positive interactions and conscious parenting can strengthen it, restoring emotional equilibrium.
Care or control?
The research team, led by Martina Smorti alongside Cansu Alsancak-Akbulut, Francesca Pozza, and Carmen Berrocal Montiel, wanted to explore how negative emotions like anger and anxiety mediate the connection between parenting and adult life satisfaction. Their study involved 369 young Italians, mostly women, with an average age of 22. Most held a degree (72%), some had a master’s (12%), and 60% still lived with their families. Only 31% were employed.
Using detailed questionnaires, participants were asked to recall how they perceived their parents’ behavior growing up — from the degree of emotional care to levels of overprotection, and their own emotional experiences (like anxiety and anger) along with their overall life satisfaction.
The results were striking: those who perceived their parents as emotionally warm and present reported lower levels of anxiety, better anger control, and higher life satisfaction. Conversely, participants who experienced overprotective parenting showed increased anxiety, more uncontrolled anger, and less personal fulfillment.
Interestingly, there were nuances between mothers and fathers. Maternal overprotection was more directly linked to both anxiety and anger, while paternal overprotection was primarily associated with anxiety.
The domino effect
Through statistical analysis, researchers confirmed a chain reaction: the more overprotected the child felt, the higher their anxiety levels — and the lower their reported life satisfaction as adults. Anxiety, in this case, acts as a bridge between parental control and adult discontent.
Anger, on the other hand, was found to mediate the relationship between parental affection and well-being. That is, the more genuine emotional support a child received, the better they were able to manage anger, contributing to a more stable emotional life.
Even the way anger was expressed mattered. Participants who grew up with controlling mothers tended to express anger negatively — through arguments, tension, or passive-aggressive silence — suggesting that excessive control breeds frustration and inner unrest.
The emotional blueprint we carry
What emerges is a delicate but impactful picture: mothers and fathers shape our emotional landscape in distinct but complementary ways, influencing our adult lives through psychological processes involving anxiety and anger.
This study offers a timely reminder of how deeply parenting styles can echo into adulthood. The emotions we learn to regulate — or fail to — often trace back to how we were loved, heard, and supported as children.
It also raises an important point that goes beyond research: being present doesn’t mean micromanaging. True presence is about offering security without intrusion, fostering independence while being emotionally available. It’s a tricky balance — but it may well be the key to raising happier, healthier adults.
Source: Journal of Psychology
