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Watch your tone of voice!
It’s what we always suspected, but now there’s science to show that teens are far less likely to respond to their mothers if they use a ‘controlling’ tone of voice.
The study, led by Dr Netta Weinstein of Cardiff University and published in the journal Developmental Psychology, is the first of its kind to look at the role that tone of voice plays when teens receive instructions from their mothers. It involved more than 1 000 male and female adolescents aged 14-15 years.
The researchers randomly assigned each participant to one of three groups. They then played each group messages that mothers of teens had delivered regarding school or schoolwork, such as: ‘You’ll read this book tonight!’ or ‘You’ll stay in this weekend and study.’ The words of
