If you want your child to do well at school, stop being so hard on them.

Children exposed to harsh parenting are more likely to have poor outcomes at school, according to experts.

That is because their interpersonal needs are not being met at home, so they are more likely to become reliant on friends.

In so doing, they are more likely to put their friends before their school work.

Both direct and indirect effects of parenting can play a role in shaping a child’s behavior and their relationship with their peers, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh found.

Harsh parenting was defined as yelling, hitting, and engaging in coercive behaviors like verbal or physical threats as a means of punishment.

The authors looked at kids who were part of a study that examined how social contexts affect performance at school.

More than 1,000 students were followed for more than nine years from 12 years old to around 21.

‘Harsh parenting was related to lower educational attainment’

The kids were asked questions about their parents’ physical and verbal aggression, as well as their own relationship with friends and their sexual behavior.

The researchers found kids with harsh parents were more likely to say their friends were more important than their school work, and other responsibilities, like following their parents’ rules.

Those students were also more likely to engage in risky behavior, girls were more likely to have sexual experiences while boys were more likely to get caught up in violence, as they got older.

Lead author Rochelle Hentges, said: “We believe our study is the first to use children’s life histories as a framework to examine how parenting affects children’s educational outcomes via relationships with peers, sexual behavior, and delinquency.”

“In our study, harsh parenting was related to lower educational attainment through a set of complex cascading processes that emphasized present-oriented behaviors at the cost of future-oriented educational goals.”

Youth whose needs aren’t met by their primary attachment figures may seek validation from peers.

“This may include turning to peers in unhealthy ways, which may lead to increased aggression and delinquency, as well as early sexual behavior at the expense of long-term goals such as education.”

The study, published in the journal Child Development, could be used to improve prevention and intervention programs in schools.

Ming-Te Wang, an associate professor of psychology at the university, said: “Since children who are exposed to harsh and aggressive parenting are susceptible to lower educational attainment, they could be targeted for intervention.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun.

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