London - Parents who shout at their teenage children may push the youngsters into depression and troubled behaviour.
Even where there was a close relationship between the generations, harsh verbal discipline was found have a dramatic impact on emotional development, a study found.
Shouting, swearing and humiliation were commonplace, and directed at teenagers in nearly half of the 976 US households studied.
The researchers found if parents use such punishment when their child is 13, the teenager is more likely to have behavioural or emotional problems later on.
And they found that many parents shifted from physical to verbal discipline as their children entered adolescence.
The youngsters subjected to such treatment tended to suffer more depressive symptoms than other children and were also more likely to misbehave at school, lie, steal and fight.
“This is one of the first studies to indicate harsh verbal discipline is damaging to the developing adolescent,” said lead researcher Ming-Te Wang, of the University of Pittsburgh in the US.
Dr Wang said it was misguided for otherwise “warm” parents to hope their children would accept being shouted at and think ‘they’re doing this because they love me’.
The assistant professor of psychology, whose work was published in the journal Child Development, suggested parents who want to discipline their teenage children would benefit by talking with them about their concerns and the consequences of their behaviour. - Daily Mail