A behavior-modification approach to discipline.

"Tough love" is a phrase popularized in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States and Canada to describe a form of parenting or guidance for troubled children that holds the children responsible for their actions and compassionately forces them to face the consequences. The tough love movement was founded in the early 1980s by Phyllis and David York in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area after their experiences with their troubled teenage daughter. Finding a lack of support in the social service, psychiatric, and criminal justice systems, the Yorks formed a group, known as Toughlove, with other parents of troubled teens. The Toughlove movement caught on quickly: the number of groups rose from a mere half a dozen in the Philadelphia region in 1981 to over 1,000 worldwide by the mid-1990s. Although the Toughlove movement is intentionally...