Wonder if you could be one of "those" parents who rant and rage at their kid's soccer game? Well, you don't have to look much farther than your car's rearview mirror for clues.
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©iStockphoto/Julie Johnson
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Wonder if you could be one of "those" parents who rant and rage at their kid's soccer game?
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According to a new study if you have a tendency to become upset while driving, you're more likely to be the kind of parent who explodes in anger at your kids' sports matches.
Research by kinesiology Ph.D student Jay Goldstein of the University of Maryland School of Public Health found that ego defensiveness, one of the triggers that ignites road rage, also kicks off parental "sideline rage," and that a parent with a control-oriented personality is more likely to react to that trigger by becoming angry and aggressive.
By surveying parents at youth soccer games in suburban Washington, D.C., Goldstein found that parents became angry when their ego got in the way. "When they perceived something that happened during the game to be personally directed at them or their child, they got angry." says Goldstein. "That's consistent with findings on road rage."