Abstract We prove the linear and nonlinear instability of periodic traveling wave solutions for a generalized version of the symmetric regularized long wave (SRLW) equation. Using analytic and asymptotic perturbation theory, we establish sufficient conditions for the existence of exponentially growing solutions to the linearized problem and so the linear instability of periodic profiles is obtained. An application of this approach is made to obtain the linear/nonlinear instability of cnoidal wave solutions for the modified SRLW (mSRLW) equation. We also prove the stability of dnoidal wave solutions associated to the equation just mentioned.