Brad Bushman, professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University, told Time, “Our research provides the first empirical evidence that parents sometimes want their child to fulfill their unfulfilled ambitions — for example, that they want their child to become a physician when they themselves were rejected for medical school.”
Pushy parents seem to share a common trait: They view their children as part of themselves. Those who viewed their children as most closely linked to themselves were more likely to hope that their children fulfilled their own dreams.
“Several psychologists believe that, in very extreme cases, this desire could be harmful,” the study’s lead author, Eddie Brummelman, a PhD student at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, told Time. “For example, it may undermine children’s autonomy or put pressure on them to excel.
“Parents generally experience more meaning in life than non-parents do, but little is known about how parents derive meaning from parenthood,” the authors write. “Parents may derive meaning from parenthood by vicariously resolving their unfulfilled ambitions through their children. Basking in children’s reflected glory, parents’ feelings of regret and disappointment about their own lost opportunities may gradually resolve, and make way for pride and fulfillment.”
Source: http://news.discovery.com/human/psychology/why-parents-are-pushy-130624.htm