Giving in to pester power can make your child a thug


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Children given sweets and chocolate every day are more likely to be violent as adults, researchers warn.

By caving in to 'pester power', parents are helping to create a pattern of aggressive behaviour that could land their kids in jail, according to Dr Simon Moore of Cardiff University.

His study looked at offenders who had also had their lives documented at the age of ten in the 1970 British Cohort Study.

3 year old boy sitting on the kitchen counter eating large slabs of chocolate

Researchers warn that by caving in to 'pester power', parents are helping to create a pattern of aggressive behaviour

Of those convicted for violence between age 29 and 34, 69 per cent had eaten confectionery nearly every day in childhood, compared with just 42 per cent of those convicted for non-violent offences.

The link remained after other factors were taken into account, the October issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry reports.

Dr Moore said: 'Giving children sweets and chocolate regularly may stop them learning to wait to obtain something they want.

'Not being able to defer gratification may push them into more impulsive behaviour, which is strongly associated with delinquency.'

He added that it was also possible that sweets themselves cause a problem through additives or by causing blood sugar to fluctuate.

But Julian Hunt, of the Food and Drink Federation, called the findings 'utter nonsense'.

He said: 'Anti-social behaviour stems from deep-rooted social and environmental factors, such as poor parenting and a deprived upbringing, and is not linked to whether or not you ate sweeties as a kid.

'How anyone could leap to such a conclusion is beyond me.'

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