Weak parenting of boys is creating a generation of entitled brats who think they are owed the world and can lash out in violence when they do not get their way, adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg has said.

Mr Carr-Gregg has worked with families for three decades and said he was seeing an unmistakable increase in disrespectful and contemptuous boys who had a false belief they were flawless.

He said it stemmed from boys being raised to see the world, "as one giant, personalised, all-singing, all-dancing, 24/7 catering service exclusively for them".

Tips for raising empathetic boys Show your son that you love him whether he wins or loses.

Show your son that you love him whether he wins or loses. Let your boys experience adversity.

Let your boys experience adversity. Foster a relationship with a supportive, charismatic adult.

Foster a relationship with a supportive, charismatic adult. Let him take responsibility for his contribution to disappointing outcomes.

Let him take responsibility for his contribution to disappointing outcomes. Be your own hero. Don't live vicariously through your son.

Be your own hero. Don't live vicariously through your son. Never put up with intimidating or violent behaviour — even if it seems trivial.

Never put up with intimidating or violent behaviour — even if it seems trivial. Seek professional help if violence, mental illness of substance abuse are interfering with development. Source: The Prince Boofhead Syndrome book

"I do lay [responsibility] at the feet of parents," he told News Breakfast.

"I know that's not a popular thing to do and people will call me a parent-basher.

"But parents are actually becoming, in my view, weaker than ever before."

Mr Carr-Gregg has dubbed this "prince boofhead" syndrome, and has examined the issue in a new book co-authored with researcher Elly Robinson.

They conclude that the "child-centred parenting movement" that sprung up in response to the more authoritarian parenting practices of past generations had gone too far.

"There's so much pressure on the parents, driven by guilt, by God knows what, to actually accede to the requests of these kids," Mr Carr-Gregg said.

"Basic things like bed times. Kids need nine hours' sleep. They're not getting it.

"Every single research study shows they're in bed with their technology.

"Get the technology out of the bedroom."

'Mums are copping the worst of it'

Among the worst manifestations of the "prince boofhead" boys are the ones who turn their aggression towards women in general, and their mums in particular.

"While boys are not as verbal or vitriolic as their sisters, they are physically stronger and can be terrifying in their anger, especially when it is directed towards their mothers, as it so often is," Mr Carr-Gregg writes.

"Somewhere along the line, these boys have been taught that it's OK, not just to talk to their mothers this way, but it's OK to talk to women this way, because they're somehow inferior and unimportant."

He said many psychologists agreed that kids take their most significant cues from the parent of the same sex.

"So for boys, their template on how to be a man, how to relate to women, is learned through watching their father," he said.

"So if the father is absent psychologically or perpetrates these behaviours, then we shouldn't really be surprised that we're seeing this syndrome."

He said it was still a small proportion of boys who fit the "prince boofhead" category, and that many of these learned behaviours could be addressed by more discipline and boundaries in their earlier years.

"Make absolutely sure right from the start that they do help around the house, that they do speak in a courteous manner, not just to their fathers but also to their mothers and all adults," he said.