London, Feb 27 (IANS) Parental failure to discipline their children in a consistent way leads to the creation of angry, aggressive and anti-social kids, a study has found.
Pupils became aggressive and disruptive if their parents were violent, critical or inconsistent, the study shows.
In contrast, children behaved better if their parents combined warmth with clear and consistent rules, Stephen Scott of the National Academy for Parenting Research who led the study said.
Around 300 families with children aged four to seven were assessed for both the children’s behaviour and their parents’ discipline techniques, the Daily Mail reported.
“A negative parenting style, characterised by harsh, inconsistent discipline, was clearly associated with more severe child anti-social behaviour. Parents who used negative discipline had twice the rate of children with severe behaviour problems compared to the other parents,” Scott said.
The research also studied how some middle-class parents lavish material possessions on their children but were distant and barely involved in their upbringing.
Mothers’ depression was also linked to bad behaviour of children.
The researchers said the study, funded by the government, reinforced the benefits of parenting lessons to teach mothers and fathers across all sections of society how to discipline their children.
Ministers are already preparing a two-year trial of parenting classes as part of a five-million-pound experiment that will deal with issues of discipline, communication and managing conflict.
The lessons will be introduced for 50,000 families in Middlesbrough, High Peak in Derbyshire, and Camden in north London.