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Keeping your cool Local parents challenge themselves to stop yelling By DAWN GREEN I t's 7 a.m. You're running late to get out the door, but your 5-year-old won't get out of her pajamas to get dressed. Meanwhile, your 12-year-old is following you around the house rattling off a long list of reasons for skipping school today — the same day his big presentation is due, one you're aware he hasn't completed. Your nerves are frazzled and you start shouting at them about how they need to grow up and take responsibility. You know it's not the solution 10 Hudson Valley Parent n January 2014 — it just escalates the problem — but you can't help yourself. Now your youngest is sobbing and your oldest is angry. You'll probably feel bad later, and even apologize when you pick them up from school, but it's likely that the next time you're faced with a similar situation, you will have the same response. For many of us, whether in the morning rush or the bedtime struggles, dealing with toddler tantrums or teenage power struggles, yelling is our automatic response. It allows us to express our anger without resorting to physicality, which all parents know is harmful. Yelling leads to depression A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, however, suggests that yelling is just as detrimental to teens as hitting. This study, which focused on over 950 adolescents and their parents, found that children who were reprimanded harshly by their parents had a higher incidence of depression than their peers who were not treated in this manner. They were also more likely to exhibit aggressive or violent behavior themselves.