Asritha Raj and Vidhya Ravindranadan
Union Christian College, Aluva
Pages:176-186
Parenting can both positively and negatively influence a child’s adult life, such as their
abilities to regulate emotions, formation of personality, faith, morals, etc. Toxic parents
are those parents who negatively influence children with their consistent and dominant
negative behavior patterns. Toxic parenting can have short-term as well as long-term
consequences in children’s lives. The study aimed to investigate the effects of toxic
parenting on children through meta-synthesis. A qualitative meta-synthesis was
employed to systematically sort relevant qualitative studies by searching across the
Google Scholar database. Nine studies that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria
were included in the present study, and five themes were identified across the included
studies. The themes were emotional problems, interpersonal issues, anxiety, poor
self-concept, and negative impact in adulthood. The results provide an up-to-date
comprehensive understanding of the effects of toxic parenting among children. The
findings of the study underscore the need for clinical interventions specifically for
individuals with a history of toxic parenting and demand mental health professionals to
study and incorporate the same in therapy. The study also highlights the need for early
intervention programs, support groups, policy initiatives, community support networks,
awareness programs, and future research.