Uh-oh. The More Teens Are Yelled At, the Worse They Behave, Live Science reports.

Parents commonly shout, yell or even swear at their teenagers, but such discipline tactics may actually increase their child’s risk for behavior problems, a new study suggests.

In the study, parent’s use of harsh verbal discipline with their children at age 13 was linked with an increased risk of conduct problems and symptoms of depression at ages 13 and 14. The more frequently parents used hash verbal discipline, the more commonly their children experienced these problems, the researchers found.

What’s more, children with conduct problems also received more harsh verbal discipline from their parents. This suggests that harsh verbal discipline may lead to a vicious cycle of children acting out, and parents escalating their disciplinary actions, the researchers said.

Uhm. I agree that the study may indicate a relation between kids who get yelled at a lot and kids who get into trouble a lot. But couldn’t it simply suggest that kids who get into trouble a lot get yelled at a lot? Isn’t that a more logical conclusion?

I’ll tell ya’ I almost never yell at my kids. It’s just not how I roll. I’m a disciplinarian, don’t get me wrong but I just don’t yell a lot. But I’ve known some good parents who raise their voices quite a bit. They’re not demeaning or nasty. They just raise their voices a lot. So I don’t think it’s yelling that makes kids bad. I’m actually kinda’ jealous (a little) of parents who yell a bit. Because when I do raise my voice it startles the heck out of the kids and then I end up feeling really bad. But I think this study is a bit of bunk. I don’t think one’s raising their voice makes kids bad. I think being nasty and mean to your kids can create a situation where kids act out badly.

Hey, I wonder if I WRITE IN ALL CAPS THAT’LL MAKE ALL MY READERS ACT OUT. I’LL WATCH THE NEWS TONIGHT TO SEE IF ANY OF YOU BROKE BAD BECAUSE I YELLED AT YOU.

*subhead*SCIENCE.*subhead*