Parents who yell, insult, or swear in an effort to correct bad behavior may perpetuate the behavior and increase a child's risk for depression, new research suggests.
The longitudinal study found that nearly half of parents (45% to 46% of mothers and 42% to 43% of fathers) reported using harsh verbal language to discipline their 13- and 14-year-old children.
Using a cross-lagged model, the research showed that higher exposure to harsh verbal discipline at age 13 predicted increased adolescent behavior problems between the ages of 13 and 14 (beta=0.12 and 0.11; P<0.001), lead researcher and behavioral psychologist Ming-Te Wang, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues, wrote in the Sept. 4 issue of the journal Child Development.
Higher exposure to parental yelling and other forms of harsh verbal discipline at age 13 predicted increased depressive symptoms between the ages of 13 and 14 (beta=0.16 and 0.14; P<0.001).
The study is among the first to examine the impact of parental verbal discipline on teen behavior and depression, and the research suggested a reciprocal relationship between negative verbal discipline by parents and bad teen behavior.
"The finding suggests that a coercive cycle of parenting is operating in which a parent might react to children's conduct problems with hostile and demeaning verbal discipline, and these verbal assaults may thus provoke the adolescent to further engage in disruptive behavior," the researchers wrote.
Psychologist Nadine Kaslow, PhD, who is president elect of the American Psychological Association and who was not involved in the study, said the findings highlight the futility and potential harms of reacting to adolescent behavioral issues with harsh verbal discipline.
Kaslow is the chief psychologist at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and a professor of psychiatry at Atlanta's Emory University School of Medicine.
"It sends the message that when you are mad or upset or scared, yelling is the way to deal with it," she told MedPage Today. "That is the opposite of the message parents should be sending. Also, shouting and yelling doesn't really work. It may stop the behavior for a while, but the child will probably be exhibiting the same behavior within an hour or two."
The study included 967 two-parent families and their children who were participants in a longitudinal trial examining family socialization and adolescent development.
About half the participants were Caucasian, 40% were African American and the rest came from other ethnic backgrounds. All were recruited through 10 public middle schools in Pennsylvania.
The sample was broadly representative of varying socioeconomic levels, with the parents' mean pre-tax family annual income being $51,000. Nine out of 10 families (89%) reported that one parent was employed, 71% of fathers and 69% of mothers were high school graduates, and 50% of fathers and 46% of mothers were college graduates.
The researchers assessed two waves of data collected when the children were in the seventh grade (mean age 13.3; range 12.8-13.5) and eighth grade (mean age=14.4; range, 13.6-14.4).
The survey, designed to assess teen conduct, included questions like: "In the past year, how often have you: a) been disobedient in school, b) lied to your parents, c) stolen from a store, d) been involved in a gang fight, and e) damaged public or private property for fun?" The children were asked to rate their answers on a 1 to 5 scale, with 1 meaning never and 5 meaning 'ten or more times.'
Parents also answered surveys designed to measure their use of harsh verbal discipline, with questions like: "In the past year, after your child has disobeyed you or done something wrong, how often have you: a) shouted, yelled, or screamed at your child, b) swore or cursed at them , and c) called the child dumb or lazy or some other name?"
The study was among the first to test whether other aspects of parental behavior, such as maternal and paternal warmth, moderated the relation between harsh verbal discipline, teen behavior, and teen depression symptoms.
The findings suggested that parental warmth was not a buffer against the effects of harsh verbal discipline.
"Harsh verbal discipline was associated with increased conduct problems and depressive symptoms regardless of whether parenting style was characterized by low, moderate, or high levels of maternal and paternal warmth," the researchers wrote.
They cited several potential study limitations including that fact that child and parental behaviors were self-reported, the lack of data on child and parent behavior at earlier ages, and the fact that only two-parent families were included in the analysis.
Both maternal and parental harsh verbal discipline were linked to increased behavioral problems among teens.
"Our results support a transactional model of parent-child interaction and suggest that any intervention efforts to reduce both harsh verbal discipline and conduct problems will need to target both the parents and the child," the researchers concluded.