Washington, Nov 25 : Mothers who play mental games with their daughters like making them feel guilty or withdrawing expressions of love are actually putting their kids at an increased risk of developing depression, according to a new study.

The study, conducted on African-American youth, revealed that girls whose mothers' had psychological control on them reported much higher levels of depressive symptoms and lower levels of personal agency.

Jelani Mandara and Crysta L. Pikes examined a sample of 152 African American students in the ninth to twelfth grade at a high school in a large Midwestern city.

The research revealed higher degree of maternal psychological control led to higher depressive symptoms.

However, the boys mostly remained unaffected by the parental control.

The outcome of the study emphasized upon the fact that more and more parents should be counseled in order to find a balance between parenting and prohibiting their excessive control from hampering their kids' mental growth.

"The key for practitioners will be to impress upon parents the need to find a balance between psychological autonomy and behavioral regulation at each stage of their children's development," Mandara and Pikes said.

The study is published in the December 2008 issue of Family Relations.

ANI