Syracuse, N.Y. -- Yelling at teenagers to discipline them often makes their behavior worse, according to a new study.
Teens subjected to harsh verbal discipline by their parents are more likely to become depressed, misbehave at school and develop other conduct problems such as lying to parents, stealing and fighting, say researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Michigan.
The study, published today in the journal Child Development, found 90 percent of American parents reported one or more instances of using harsh verbal discipline with children of all ages. The rate of the more severe forms of harsh verbal discipline -- swearing, cursing, name calling -- directed at teens was 50 percent.
Parents' hostility increases the risk of delinquency by lowering inhibition and fostering anger, irritability and belligerence in adolescents, according to the study.
The study looked at 967 two-parent families and their children. About half were European American, 40 percent were African American and the rest were of other ethnic backgrounds. Most of the families were middle class.
The sense that parents are yelling at the child "out of love," or "for their own good" does not offset the damage inflicted, said Ming-Te Wang, a University of Pittsburgh professor, who led the study.
"It's a vicious circle," Wang said in a prepared statement. "And it's a tough call for parents because it goes both ways: problem behaviors from children create the desire to give harsh verbal discipline, but that discipline may push adolescents toward those same problem behaviors."
The researchers report that parents who wish to modify the behavior of their teenage children should communicate with them on an equal level, explaining their worries and rationale to them.
You can reach health writer James T. Mulder at firstname.lastname@example.org or (315) 470-2245. Follow him at twitter.com/JamesTMulder