Tiger Mothers may have it wrong as new studies suggest highly-pressured children are more prone to depression and anxiety

Tiger Mothers may have it wrong as new studies suggest highly-pressured children are more prone to depression and anxiety - Tiger mothers, made famous by author Amy Chua, may actually have got it all wrong.

Fiercely pushy Chinese mothers, who heap pressure on children to succeed both academically and in their leisure activities, may in fact contribute to low self-esteem and high levels of depression.

Ms Chua's book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, is a memoir of how the Yale law professor raised her two daughters the strict Chinese way.

Not such a Tiger Mom: Professor Desiree Qin, pictured, found that academic success may come at the price of happiness

But Professor Desiree Qin conducted two studies that found, in contrast to Ms Chua's theory, high-achieving students at a top New York high school are more anxious than their less pressured counterparts.

Speaking to the New York Daily News, she said: 'Amy [Chua] said Western children are not happier than Chinese ones.

'But at the same time, research from our study does show that when parents place a lot of pressure on their kids, the children are less happy.'

The professor, whose findings are due to be published in medical journals, believes that success and happiness do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Le Tigre: Amy Chua stands by her Tiger Mom parenting diktat

Her research, before Ms Chua's controversial book was published, was, according to the Daily News, carried out at Stuyvesant High School, known for being highly selective.

Chinese-Americans at the school spoke of the constant stress of having pushy parents, despite winning places at the elite school.

One student told the professor: 'She’s like, "Oh, you have to do good on your SATs ... you have to work on your essays" ... They just repeatedly talk about work'.

Another spoke of their parents' fear of failure: 'If I get one bad grade, they think, "Oh no, you’re going to fail school, you’re going to become one of those bad girls who do drugs and things like that"'.

By conducting hundreds of interviews between 2007 and 2008, she found there to be more of a sense of conflict in the homes of Chinese- American students than in those of European descent, says the newspaper.

While Ms Chua's daughters score consistent As and can play the violin, they may, suggests the research, not be as contented as if they had been awarded the odd B. ( dailymail.co.uk )

Enter your email address :

---