A history of exposure to harsh physical discipline has been linked to
negative outcomes for children, ranging from conduct disorder to
depression and low self-esteem. The present study extends this work into
adolescence, and examines the relationship of lifetime histories of harsh
discipline to adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms
and to their developing capacities for establishing autonomy and
relatedness in family interactions. Adolescent and parent reports of harsh
discipline, independently coded observations of conflictual interactions,
and adolescent reports of symptoms were obtained for 141 adolescents at
age 16. Both parents' use of harsh discipline was related to greater
adolescent depression and externalizing behavior, even when these effects
were examined over and above the effects of other parenting measures known
to account for these symptoms. Adolescents exposed to harsh discipline
from mothers were also less likely to appear warm and engaged during an
interaction task with their mothers. It is suggested that a history of
harsh discipline is associated not only with social and emotional
functioning, but also with the developmental task of autonomy and
relatedness.This study and its write-up
were supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health
(R01-MH44934 and R01-MH58066).