Dysfunctional family dynamics linked to preference for ‘tyrants’ as political leaders, study finds

Researchers investigating childhood family environments and how they impact people in later life have found a correlation between high levels of conflict at home and recognising socially undesirable traits as ideal leadership qualities. “We see it all the time – where the obnoxious leader rises to the top, but we don’t know much about why,” Dr Herbert Walker said. “It’s critical that we asked about ideal leadership and not just leadership in general,” Dr Herbert Walker said, “because we really wanted to get at a person’s favoured leadership image, the characteristics they ideally want to see in their leaders.” Dr Herbert Walker and the study’s other authors then compared the data from 2016 and 1996 and found a strong positive connection between those who reported living with a high level of conflict at home and those whose ideal image of a leader possessed these negative traits. When adolescent family environments contain a high amount of dysfunctional conflict, it’s likely that some so-called tyrannical behaviour is on display and that role modelling can shape the way a person views leadership, Dr Herbert Walker said.