NAG ON: Pushy Parents Produce More Successful Children, Study Says

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The secret to success when it comes to raising kids is apparently nagging, especially when it comes to daughters.

One study found that moms who hound their daughters produced more successful women. So does nagging really work?

According to the study out of Great Britain, that's exactly what they found when they studied mothers and daughters. Westchester County mom Alicia Jennings says it makes perfect sense.

"We have to be strict with our girls these days," said Jennings. "We have to instill in them values and give them goals to achieve."

She says her daughters might not always like it, but they respect it.

"She makes sure that we do what we have to do and stay on task," 12-year-old Mia Wilson said.

The pushy parent study was conducted by researchers at the University of Essex, who followed more than 1,500 teenaged girls for six years. They found that when teens whose main parent, in this case their mom, expected a lot from them they were "less likely to become pregnant, more likely to attend college, and ultimately earn higher wages once in the workforce."

Laurie Wolk is a girls leadership coach, author, and mother of a boy and two girls.

"These kids were not born knowing how to communicate, manage time or approach a teacher. So we need to be taught that," said Wolk. "Everytime we set up those reminders we are literally mirroring for them, role modeling how they're going to do it for themselves in the future."

As it turns out, CBS2's own Elise Finch says her own mom was really strict. So did she know about the theory several decades ago? Well, no, but she says she did know it was imperative that she constantly reminded Elise and her sister about what really mattered.

"It was my job to stay on you," Elise's mom, Charlette, told her. "I felt like if I say it one time and then I walk and maybe a week later I come back and say it, it doesn't seem like I'm serious. Being strict and repeating it was for you to know that I was serious."

Consider it mission accomplished. The findings from the strict parenting study were initially published in 2015, but have gained traction of late because of social media.

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