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Spanking in Early Childhood and Later Behavior Problems: A Prospective Study of Infants and Young Toddlers
Abstract
To explore the relationship of spanking frequency before age 2 with behavior problems near time of entry into school.
Children who were younger than 2 years were followed up approximately 4 years later, after they had entered school. The likelihood of significant behavior problems at follow-up was estimated in multivariate analyses that controlled for baseline spanking frequency and other characteristics. Participants were mothers from a large-scale national study and their children. Statistical analysis included an ethnically diverse sample of 1966 children aged 0 to 23 months at baseline. Two dichotomous indicators of behavior problems were used. The first indicated that maternal rating of child behavior problems exceeded a threshold. The second indicated that a mother met with a school administrator to discuss her child's behavior problems.
White non-Hispanic children who were spanked more frequently before age 2 were substantially more likely to have behavior problems after entry into school, controlling for other factors. For Hispanic and black children, associations between spanking frequency and behavior problems were not statistically significant and were not consistent across outcome measures.
Among white non-Hispanic children but not among black and Hispanic children, spanking frequency before age 2 is significantly and positively associated with child behavior problems at school age. These findings are consistent with those reported in studies of children older than 2 years but extend these findings to children who are spanked beginning at a relatively early age.
... Most studies of how the relation between parenting and children's externalizing behaviors varies across race/ethnicity have focused only on harsh parenting (mostly physical discipline or spanking; Pinquart, 2021). Some of these studies reported moderating effects of race/ethnicity such that harsh parenting was not related to or had protective effects on African American children's externalizing problems but was related to poor outcomes in European American children (Deater-Deckard et al., 1996;Gunnoe & Mariner, 1997;Horn et al., 2004;Lansford et al., 2012;Slade & Wissow, 2004;Stacks et al., 2009). Similarly, studies have also reported that harsh parenting was not related to Latinx children's externalizing problems but was related to poor outcomes in European American children (Slade & Wissow, 2004;Stacks et al., 2009). ...
... Some of these studies reported moderating effects of race/ethnicity such that harsh parenting was not related to or had protective effects on African American children's externalizing problems but was related to poor outcomes in European American children (Deater-Deckard et al., 1996;Gunnoe & Mariner, 1997;Horn et al., 2004;Lansford et al., 2012;Slade & Wissow, 2004;Stacks et al., 2009). Similarly, studies have also reported that harsh parenting was not related to Latinx children's externalizing problems but was related to poor outcomes in European American children (Slade & Wissow, 2004;Stacks et al., 2009). On the other hand, other researchers found no moderating effect of race/ethnicity on the relation between harsh parenting and children's externalizing behaviors (Pinquart, 2021). ...
... Additionally, the slope of the relation between greater maternal harshness and greater hyperactivity was significantly more positive for European American families than for Latinx families, suggesting that harsher parenting is associated with child hyperactivity in European American families more strongly than it was for Latinx families. These findings are consistent with other studies that have found that harsh parenting is associated with worse outcomes for European Americans but not for African American and Latinx families (Deater-Deckard et al., 1996;Gunnoe & Mariner, 1997;Horn et al., 2004;Lansford et al., 2012;Slade & Wissow, 2004;Stacks et al., 2009). Harsh parenting, as traditionally defined by research predominantly in European American populations, may not carry the same meaning and have less negative connotation in African American and Latinx families. ...
This study examined racial/ethnic differences in the relations between three dimensions of parenting practices (harsh, lax, and warm parenting) and children’s externalizing behaviors across European American, African American, and Latinx families. Participants included 221 mothers who identified as African American (n = 32), Latina (n = 46), or European American (n = 143). Mothers’ self-rated and observer-coded harshness, laxness, and warmth, and their ratings of their 3-year-old children’s externalizing behaviors (hyperactivity, aggression) were analyzed. Research Findings:Multiple regression analyses indicated some racial/ethnic differences in the relations between harsh and warm parenting and children’s externalizing behaviors. The slopes of the relation between greater harshness and greater aggression and hyperactivity were more positive for European American families than for African American or Latinx families. The slopes of the relation between greater warmth and less aggression were more negative for European American and Latinx families than for African American families. Results indicated no racial/ethnic differences in the relation between laxness and externalizing behaviors. Practice or Policy:These findings suggest racial/ethnic differences in the relation between some parenting practices and externalizing behaviors, which have important implications in culturally sensitive clinical practice for different racial/ethnic groups. More research is necessary to replicate these findings, and to identify other parenting practices that may be more important in racial/ethnic minority families.
... The results of many studies have related parental discipline and early childhood developmental outcomes. A number of studies on CP and spanking have suggested that ineffective discipline strategies were interrelated with detrimental developmental outcomes [54][55][56]. It has been found that CP adversely affected the cognitive ability of children, and therefore, they should never be spanked [57]. ...
... Our [54][55][56], who also found that spanking was an unproductive approach and was associated with negative impacts on the development of a child. Moreover, our findings regarding "yelling at a child" and "spank to child" were also consistent with a study by Berthlon et al. (2018), according to which exposure to any form of violence negatively affected the cognitive, language, and socio-emotional development of a child [62]. ...
Children who are under the age of five in underdeveloped and developing countries, including China, exhibit developmental delays due to their exposure to risks such as impoverishment, deprived health conditions, parental punishment, neglect, and poor psychosocial stimulation. Adverse experiences during the formative years of life, such as harsh parental discipline, may put them at risk for poor physical and mental well-being. The aim of this research is to explore the pervasiveness and developmental outcomes of different forms of discipline practices in the underdeveloped rural areas of China. To do this, we used cross-sectional data on child–caregiver dyads from a large survey held in 22 poor counties in the QinBa Mountain Region. The sample included 1622 children aged 12–36 months. Partakers were requested to respond to a general survey on parenting which included basic demographic questions, the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional (ASQ-SE), the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (BSID-III), and questions on exposure of children to different discipline practices. Our findings from OLS estimates reveal that aversive discipline methods adversely affect cognitive, language, and socio-emotional development, whereas, non-aversive discipline practices have constructive effects on cognitive, language, and motor development of children.
... Six studies from five independent samples examined total behaviour problems, a combination of internalising and externalising behaviours. 28,29,31,[79][80][81] All were undertaken with young children, with a baseline age of 2-4 years and follow-up periods of 2-6 years. Physical punishment was related to increased behaviour problems over time in four independent samples. ...
... However, no modification of the link to increased externalising behaviour was found in the ECLSK, 40,82 the FFCWS, 35,70 or five other independent samples. 27,42,52,56,77 Findings with the NLSY for child behaviour problems were mixed, with some finding modification by race or ethnicity 26,29 but others finding no modification. 23,24,28 Another study with data from the NLSY found no modification by race or ethnicity for achievement in mathematics or reading ability. ...
Physical punishment is increasingly viewed as a form of violence that harms children. This narrative review summarises the findings of 69 prospective longitudinal studies to inform practitioners and policy makers about physical punishment's outcomes. Our review identified seven key themes. First, physical punishment consistently predicts increases in child behaviour problems over time. Second, physical punishment is not associated with positive outcomes over time. Third, physical punishment increases the risk of involvement with child protective services. Fourth, the only evidence of children eliciting physical punishment is for externalising behaviour. Fifth, physical punishment predicts worsening behaviour over time in quasi-experimental studies. Sixth, associations between physical punishment and detrimental child outcomes are robust across child and parent characteristics. Finally, there is some evidence of a dose–response relationship. The consistency of these findings indicates that physical punishment is harmful to children and that policy remedies are warranted.
... As ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and Garcia-Coll et al.'s (1996) integrative model for the study of developmental competencies in minority children highlight, parent-child interactions are influenced by both proximal sources, such as family conditions, to more macro-level sources, such as culture. Indeed, there is some evidence that ethnicity/culture may moderate the association between spanking and child outcomes (Berlin et al., 2009;Berzenski & Yates, 2013;Deater-Deckard et al., 1996;Gunnoe & Mariner, 1997;Larzelere & Kuhn, 2005;Slade & Wissow, 2004). According to these scholars, there may be culturally rooted beliefs that shape children's understanding of spanking as normative and acceptable, buffering some of the negative effect on child well-being (Ispa & Halgunseth, 2004;Lansford et al., 2005). ...
... verbal punishment have been linked to greater externalizing and internalizing problems in children (Gershoff, Lansford, Sexton, Davis-Kean, & Sameroff, 2012;Vissing, Straus, Gelles, & Harrop, 1991;Yildirim & Roonarine, 2014), but not consistently (Slade & Wissow, 2004;Stacks et al., 2009), thus leading some scholars to posit that culture and context may moderate associations between disciplinary practices and child outcomes. The present study contributes to the literature on Latino parenting and child development by examining spanking and verbal punishment-its use and its correlates-among immigrant families of young Latino children. ...
Spanking is a divisive discipline practice in the U.S. and is considered an inappropriate and harmful discipline tactic by some scholars and practitioners. However, increased diversity in the U.S. has contributed to varying cultural beliefs regarding discipline, which in turn influences child development. While prior literature has examined correlates of spanking, few studies have examined its impact on Latinx children over time. This study examines the use of spanking by Mexican-American (n = 185) and Dominican-American mothers (n = 141) across three time points. Families were recruited from public urban schools. Data were collected when children were 4-, 5- and 6-years old. A three-wave cross-lagged multi-group path analyses examined the potential reciprocal relationships between maternal spanking and child externalizing behaviors. According to cross-sectional linear regression models, spanking was concurrently associated with behavior problems at all three time points. However, the results of the cross-lagged multi-group path analyses showed that spanking did not predict subsequent behavior problems, nor did behavior problems predict subsequent spanking. Implications for practice with Latinx families are explored.
... [2][3][4][5] Previous studies have shown behavioral problems among spanked children, including external aggression or antisocial behavior, and impaired mental health problems, such as suicide. 4,[6][7][8][9][10] The United Nations enacted the Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect children from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment in 1989. 11 However, corporal punishment remains a relatively common disciplinary measure in Japan and other countries worldwide. ...
... Also, the response choices to the question on how to react to child misbehavior comprised five reactions, and respondents were required to indicate the frequency for each reaction, which could reduce underestimation of the prevalence of spanking compared with previous studies that required answering about the frequency of spanking only. 6 Several limitations should be discussed. First, there might be cultural or ethnic differences regarding the use of spanking. ...
Background: Spanking can cause adverse psychological development and biological functional changes in children. However, spanking is widely used by parents in Japan. This study explored the risk factors for parents’ spanking of 3.5-year-old children using nationwide population data in Japan.
Methods: Surveys were administered to family members in Japan who had a child in 2001 (first cohort), or in 2010 (second cohort) and the data when their child was 0.5, 1.5, and 3.5 years old were used. We used multivariate binary and ordinal logistic regression analyses to examine the associations between risk factors and spanking children at 3.5 years of age, which was subcategorized into frequencies of never, sometimes and always spanking, presented with odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Results: Among 70,450 families, 62.8% and 7.9% sometimes and always spanked their children, respectively. Children in the second cohort were spanked less frequently compared with those in the first cohort, and fathers who responded to the questionnaire spanked children less frequently than mothers who did it. Identified associated factors for spanking were boy, presence of siblings of the child, not living in a two-parent household, not living in a three-generation household, younger parents, parents with lower education, no outside work or unstable work, and lower family income.
Conclusions: We found a high prevalence of spanking and its associated factors. Approaching those with lower socioeconomic factors and promoting fathers’ involvement in parenting may be important public health strategies for reducing and preventing spanking.
... Furthermore, rates of spanking vary by race and ethnicity. For example, numerous studies have shown that African American parents in the United States use physical punishment more frequently than do White parents (Berlin et al., 2009;Gershoff & Grogan-Kaylor, 2016a;Slade & Wissow, 2004). ...
... In this sample, African American parents had significantly higher rates of spanking than American Indian and White groups. This finding is consistent with prior studies (Berlin et al., 2009;Gershoff & Grogan-Kaylor, 2016a;Slade & Wissow, 2004). Notably, among the parents in this study, and U.S. parents overall, rates of spanking are high, with most young children experiencing spanking (Regalado et al., 2004). ...
This study examined if, compared to White and African American children, maternal spanking of American Indian children was associated with child externalizing behavior problems. Using a community-based sample of 3,632 children (1,183 White, 2,183 African American, 266 American Indian), multiple-group autoregressive cross-lagged models examined the associations between maternal spanking and child externalizing behavior across the first 5 years of life. Rates of spanking for American Indian and White children were similar at all three time points (age 1, age 3, and age 5). When comparing White and American Indian groups, maternal spanking at age 1 predicted child externalizing behavior at age 3 (White: β = .10, p < .001; American Indian: β = .08, p < .01), and maternal spanking at age 3 predicted child externalizing behavior at age 5 (White: β = .09, p < .05; American Indian: β = .08, p < .01). When comparing African American and American Indian groups, maternal spanking at age 1 predicted child externalizing behavior at age 3 (African American: β = .08, p < .01; American Indian: β = .06, p < .001), and maternal spanking at age 3 predicted child externalizing behavior at age 5 (African American: β = .08, p < .001; American Indian: β = .07, p < .001). Structural invariance tests suggested that the associations observed among American Indian children were not distinguishable from those observed among White and African American children. Results of this study can be interpreted in light of the recent American Academy of Pediatrics statement that encourages pediatricians to counsel parents against the use of physical punishment. Similar to White and African American families, American Indian families may benefit from reducing or eliminating the use of physical punishment.
... As ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and Garcia-Coll et al.'s (1996) integrative model for the study of developmental competencies in minority children highlight, parent-child interactions are influenced by both proximal sources, such as family conditions, to more macro-level sources, such as culture. Indeed, there is some evidence that ethnicity/culture may moderate the association between spanking and child outcomes (Berlin et al., 2009;Berzenski & Yates, 2013;Deater-Deckard et al., 1996;Gunnoe & Mariner, 1997;Larzelere & Kuhn, 2005;Slade & Wissow, 2004). According to these scholars, there may be culturally rooted beliefs that shape children's understanding of spanking as normative and acceptable, buffering some of the negative effect on child well-being (Ispa & Halgunseth, 2004;Lansford et al., 2005). ...
... verbal punishment have been linked to greater externalizing and internalizing problems in children (Gershoff, Lansford, Sexton, Davis-Kean, & Sameroff, 2012;Vissing, Straus, Gelles, & Harrop, 1991;Yildirim & Roonarine, 2014), but not consistently (Slade & Wissow, 2004;Stacks et al., 2009), thus leading some scholars to posit that culture and context may moderate associations between disciplinary practices and child outcomes. The present study contributes to the literature on Latino parenting and child development by examining spanking and verbal punishment-its use and its correlates-among immigrant families of young Latino children. ...
Objective. This study examined the prevalence and correlates of spanking and verbal punishment in a community sample of Latino immigrant families with young children, as well as the association of spanking and verbal punishment with child internalizing and externalizing problems 1 year later. Parenting context (e.g., warmth) and cultural context (e.g., the cultural value of respeto) are considered as potential moderators. Design. Parenting and cultural socialization practices were assessed via parent self-report in a sample of 633 Mexican and Dominican American immigrant families with young children (M age = 4.43 years). Parent and teacher assessments of child internalizing and externalizing were also collected at baseline and 12 months later. Results. At Time 1, male child gender was positively correlated with concurrent spanking; familial social support and U.S. American cultural knowledge were negatively correlated with mothers’ spanking. Verbal punishment at Time 1 was associated with externalizing problems at Time 2 among both Mexican and Dominican American children, and this relation was not moderated. Additionally, verbal punishment was associated with Time 2 child internalizing problems among Mexican American children. There were no significant associations between spanking and later child internalizing or externalizing behaviors. Conclusion. It is important that researchers examine both physical and verbal discipline strategies to understand their unique influences on Latino child outcomes, as well as contextual influences that may elucidate the use and long-term effects of spanking and verbal punishment on Latino children at different developmental stages.
... Attachment theory posits that children form an emotional bond with their caregiver in the early years that provides a feeling of security (Bowlby, 1982). Thus, when parents interpret their child's messages, such as a need for attention or comfort, as misbehavior and respond by using corporal punishment, the quality of the child's attachment to their parent is likely to be disrupted and the child's emotional development may be negatively affected (Levy & Orlans, 2000;Slade & Wissow, 2004). According to parental acceptance-rejection theory, children may perceive corporal punishment as a form of caretaker rejection, which is likely to foster a feeling of unworthiness (Bretherton, 1985;Rohner, 2004). ...
... Nonetheless, research often fails to identify the potentially differential effects of corporal punishment across the stages of early childhood (for notable exceptions see Maguire-Jack et al., 2012;Slade & Wissow, 2004). Attention to the differential effects of corporal punishment on infants compared with toddlers and early school-age children is important, given that child behavior is subject to the child's own cognitive and emotional capacity to process the parent's disciplinary message (Gershoff, 2002;Margolin & Gordis, 2000). ...
Neighborhood and parenting influences on early behavioral outcomes are strongly dependent upon a child’s stage of development. However, little research has jointly considered the longitudinal associations of neighborhood and parenting processes with behavior problems in early childhood. To address this limitation, this study explores the associations of neighborhood collective efficacy and maternal corporal punishment with the longitudinal patterns of early externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. The study sample consisted of 3,705 families from a nationally representative cohort study of urban families. Longitudinal multilevel models examined the associations of collective efficacy and corporal punishment with behavior problems at age 3, as well as with patterns of behavior problems between the ages 3 to 5. Interactions between the main predictors and child age tested whether neighborhood and parent relationships with child behavior varied over time. Mediation analysis examined whether neighborhood influences on child behavior were mediated by parenting. The models controlled for a comprehensive set of possible confounders at the child, parent, and neighborhood levels. Results indicate that both maternal corporal punishment and low neighborhood collective efficacy were significantly associated with increased behavior problems. The significant interaction between collective efficacy and child age with internalizing problems suggests that neighborhood influences on internalizing behavior were stronger for younger children. The indirect effect of low collective efficacy on behavior problems through corporal punishment was not significant. These findings highlight the importance of multilevel interventions that promote both neighborhood collective efficacy and nonphysical discipline in early childhood.
... Consistent with the cross-cultural literature, studies with Latino families in the US show promoting effects of positive parenting, but mixed effects of harsh parenting, on children's internalizing and externalizing behavioral functioning [12,34,39,40,46,65]. That is, some studies have found an attenuated or null association between harsh parenting and child behavior problems, aggression and cognitive development in Latino families [6,7,52,67]). These findings have been interpreted according to the cultural normativeness hypothesis, which argues that when physical discipline practices (e.g., spanking) are perceived as normative, they serve as less robust predictors of child functioning ...
... It is important to note that all mothers, whether MA or DA, reported high levels of positive parenting and low levels of harsh parenting (with DA mothers reporting modestly but significantly higher levels of positive parenting). Much scholarly discussion has centered around the use of harsh practices among Latino parents, as past studies have indicated that physical punishment is culturally-normative [45] and possibly unrelated to Latino child outcomes [6,67]. The present study findings suggest that while harsh practices such as spanking may be acceptable, they nonetheless appear to be used infrequently with 4-5 year old children. ...
This study focused on social support and its association with child developmental outcomes, indirectly through parenting practices, in families of 4–5 year old Latino children. Data were collected from mothers and teachers of 610 Mexican American (MA) and Dominican American (DA) children. Mothers reported on perceived social support, parenting practices and children’s problem and adaptive behavior functioning at home, and teachers reported on mothers’ parent involvement and children’s problem and adaptive behavior functioning in the classroom. Results showed that support received from family was higher than support received from school networks for both ethnic groups. Moreover, familial support was associated with child behavior, mediated by positive parenting practices, whereas support from school networks was not associated with child outcomes. During early childhood, social support from family members may be an important protective factor that can promote positive behavioral functioning among Latino children.
... Ferguson et al. [10] reported that CP has not only few benefits, but also fewer negative consequences than often assumed. Implementation however, has been linked with emotional and behavioural problems in children [14][15][16]. Additionally findings from large scale prospective studies suggest that CP is a risk factor for child aggression and antisocial behaviour while controlling for initial levels of child antisocial behaviour and levels of emotional support in the home [12,14,16,17] argue that the use of CP can be beneficial under certain conditions. They argue that prohibitions should not be introduced unless evidence is provided that the use of CP, when implemented non-abusively (correct dosage) and in appropriate disciplinary situations, is shown to be associated with negative outcomes. ...
... Implementation however, has been linked with emotional and behavioural problems in children [14][15][16]. Additionally findings from large scale prospective studies suggest that CP is a risk factor for child aggression and antisocial behaviour while controlling for initial levels of child antisocial behaviour and levels of emotional support in the home [12,14,16,17] argue that the use of CP can be beneficial under certain conditions. They argue that prohibitions should not be introduced unless evidence is provided that the use of CP, when implemented non-abusively (correct dosage) and in appropriate disciplinary situations, is shown to be associated with negative outcomes. ...
Implementation rates for corporal punishment (CP) are problematically high in Northern Ireland (NI).The government has resisted introducing legislative changes to ban corporal punishment despite repeated calls from the UNCRC. This study examined (1) links between CP and adult psychopathology and (2) characteristics of implementers and cycle breakers. Data were from 1,986 adults who completed the NI Study of Health and Stress. CP, maltreatment and parental bonding were queried using validated measures. Assessment of psychiatric disorders was based on DSM-IV criteria. Logistic regression analysis, population attributable fractions (PAFs), and chi -square tests of independence were conducted. Exposures were significantly linked with mood disorders and substance use disorders (SUDs). Forty four per cent of parents implemented CP. Maintainers (21.6%) and cycle breakers (4.7%) were more likely to have reported physical abuse, exposures to domestic violence and suffer from SUDs. Cycle breakers were more likely to be married and to have been exposed to child sexual abuse (CSA). Eliminating exposures to CP may significantly reduce the prevalence of psychopathology, particularly SUDs. Prohibition should be flanked by ongoing educational media campaigns to effectively reduce CP implementation. Targeted capacity building supports should be considered for parents who themselves were exposed to certain childhood adversities.
... Beberapa penelitian mengungkapkan bahwa hukuman fisik mengakibatkan internalisasi moral dan kesehatan mental yang rendah pada anak (Gershoff, 2002). Selain itu, sebuah studi longitudinal menyatakan bahwa pemukulan terhadap anak di bawah usia 2 tahun berkorelasi kuat dengan masalah perilaku yang ditimbulkan oleh anak yang sama ketika menginjak masa kanak-kanak pertengahan dan akhir (Slade & Wissow, 2004). ...
Radicalism easily impacts young people who are silence, unemployed, having less social interaction and religion education problem. online media is the most effective dissemination media for radicalism and terrorism. On the other side, industry revolution 4.0 causes the increment of unemployed young people. In education, industry revolution causes the change of learning system from conventional to digital; e-learning. Online learning source has several advantages; however, there are also several negative effects. The more learning online source used, the filter of the negative effects should be increased, otherwise, the increment of unemployed and the high-intensity use of online media will affect the dissemination of radicalism significantly. Education institution could not filter the sources accessed by pupil by oneself. In this case, parents play important role to keep children’s spiritual, moral, emotional and social education good. Unfortunately, a lot of parents no longer realize their role as educator, especially a mother who decides to be a carrier woman. All this time, education is imposed to teacher and education institution, while parents only play a complement role. Parents should be the main educators of their children in order to prevent quick dissemination of radicalism. This article attempts to analyze guidance from the Hadith of prophet Muhammad PBUH for parents so that all aspects of their children’s education based on affection and they are anti-radicalism from the early childhood. Based on that foundation, the children would not be influenced by extremisme and terrorisme on behalf of religion.
... Some studies find no associations between parental spanking and children's adjustment in U.S. Latino families (Slade and Wissow, 2004). For example, Barajas-Gonzalez (in press) conducted a study with 633 Dominican and Mexican immigrant families with preschool-age children. ...
... As pointed by Lee, Grogan-Kaylor and Berger (2014), most of the research into harsh discipline, particularly those involved in physical punishments, comes from preschool or school-age samples. Only a few studies (e.g., Chung et al., 2009;Slade & Wissow, 2004;Vittrup, Holden, & Buck, 2006) have examined moderators, and consequences of parental harsh discipline with a sample of very young children. ...
Although power assertion is sometimes inevitable to protect a child from injury or to prevent inappropriate behavior, little is known about the effect of maternal power assertiveness on infants younger than 2 years old. Moreover, research also reveals that maternal warmth is beneficial in the regulation of children’s behavior and emotions. Yet, only a few studies have examined maternal warmth during a prohibition situation in infancy. In the present study, the additive and interactive roles of mothers’ power assertiveness and expression of warmth were examined on infant’s regulation in a laboratory task that involved a prohibition paradigm.
... To date, despite the reality of parents usually employing a range of discipline strategies available to them, including distraction, time out, reasoning and negotiation, the literature has focused on one aspect of discipline, typically, corporal punishment (CP) in an 'at risk' population (Combs-Orme & Cain, 2008;Slade & Wissow, 2004;Zolotor, Theodore, Runyan, Chang, & Laskey, 2011). Relatively little attention has been paid to understanding parental decisions and use regarding the use of a wider variety of child discipline strategies (Jansen et al., 2012;Lawrence et al., 2019;Lee, Perron, Taylor, & Guterman, 2011;Theunissen, Vogels, & Reijneveld, 2015), how parental use of discipline strategies changes over time (Huang et al., 2009;Vittrup, Holden, & Buck, 2006) or, how parents are implementing strategies. ...
This study focuses on parental discipline techniques up to 5 years and how these change over time. A cohort of 723 mothers and fathers indicated the frequency with which they used 14 different discipline strategies during the previous week when their child was aged 6, 12, 18, 24, 42 and 60 months of age. Associations between the use of these strategies and a range of demographic, family and child factors (including depression, family quality of life, level of household chaos, parenting style and child temperament) were investigated. The range and frequency of strategies used increased with the child’s age. The largest increase in the frequency of use was apparent between 6 and 12 months of age in terms of positive strategies and between 12 and 18 months for the use of negative strategies. Mothers used significantly more positive strategies during the first 24 months, and significantly more negative strategies at 18 and 24 months than fathers. Time out was popular but often poorly implemented. Greater material well-being and satisfaction with family interaction was associated with less negative discipline, and greater household chaos with more negative discipline. The level of stress, anxiety and depression reported at 24 months had little impact on later discipline.
... Atlikti tyrimai tik patvirtina neigiamus fi zinių bausmių padarinius: net tik kartais bausti vaikai skiriasi nuo visiškai nepatyrusių fi zinių bausmių asocialesniu elgesiu tiek vaikystėje, tiek suaugus (Grogan-Kaylor, 2004;Slade, Wissow, 2004). ...
Suaugusieji turi daug vaiko negatyvaus elgesio korekcijos priemonių. Jie gali vaikui kantriai paaiškinti, kodėl jo
veiksmai yra netinkami ir kokio elgesio tikisi iš savo vaiko arba be komentarų taikyti įvairias bausmes. Aptarsime tik
fi zines bausmes, nes nėra vieningos mokslininkų nuomonės apie tokių priemonių pasekmes vaiko asmenybės raidai,
o suaugusieji jas ypač dažnai taiko vaiko elgesio korekcijai.
Tyrimo tikslas — suaugusiųjų požiūrio į fi zines bausmes, kaip į pedagoginę elgesio korekcijos priemonę, tyrimas.
Ištirta 100 respondentų imtis (50 vyrų ir 50 moterų), sudaryta patogiuoju būdu. Tyrimui atlikti sudarėme anketą, rem-
damiesi viešosios nuomonės ir rinkos tyrimo centro „VILMORUS“ gyventojų apklausos metodika, vaikų patiriamam
smurtui tirti (1999). Tyrimo medžiaga analizuota taikant matematinės statistikos metodus. Gautų rezultatų skirtumo
patikimumas buvo apskaičiuojamas pagal chi kvadrato (χ²) kriterijų, kuris naudojamas hipotezėms apie kintamojo
skirstinį populiacijoje tikrinti. Pasirinktas patikimumo lygmuo α = 0,05. Rezultatų skirtumas laikytas reikšmingu,
kai p < 0,05.
Išsiaiškinta, kad fi zines bausmes naudoja daugumas tėvų (atitinkamai 52% vyrų ir 78% moterų) (p < 0,05). Moterys
reikšmingai dažniau nei vyrai yra patys patyrę fi zinę bausmę vaikystėje. Pastaruoju metu pastebima tendencija, kad
fi zinė bausmė vaikams, kaip elgesio korekcijos priemonė, pasirenkama rečiau. Respondentus tėvai vaikystėje dažniau-
siai bausdavo už neklusnumą atsikalbinėjimą, dingimą iš namų, melą. Pagrindinės priežastys, dėl kurių respondentai
baudžia savo vaikus, — atsikalbinėjimas, neklusnumas, melas, blogi pažymiai, prasta tėvų nuotaika. Beveik pusė
respondentų (58% vyrų ir 48% moterų) mano, kad fi zinės bausmės padeda tapti geresniu žmogumi. Nuomonei, kad
fi zinės bausmės yra būtina auklėjimo priemonė, prieštarauja 52% vyrų ir 22% moterų. Tačiau tik trečdalis respondentų
(30% vyrų ir 28% moterų) mano, kad fi zines bausmes reikia uždrausti įstatymu.
Raktažodžiai: elgesio korekcija, fizinė bausmė, fizinių bausmių taikymo priežastys, fizinių bausmių pasekmės.
... When violence is done then the result is not being discipline, but other behavior problems arise. In some researches, there are cases when parents trying to teach discipline with harshness and punishment to children, so they got the opposite effect of discipline, it's created a negative behavior on their children (Slade & Wissow 2004, Manuel et al. 2010, Sobita 2014, Hart et al. 1992, Smith 2004. ...
Teaching discipline of young children is not only independent, but also requires others support which are physical and psychological environment. However, many parents and educators tend to train discipline with hard training and punishment. Eventually, firm training and punishment were being ineffective. Even, this pattern leads to the new negative behavior in children. Discipline is an abstract issue on young children, then the environmental support is needed to facilitate children easier to follow the norm of discipline. The purpose of this paper is to explain the importance of psychological environment and physical environment to build discipline in early childhood.
... 4 However, despite this evidence, there are still opinions in the media on major news networks stating that societal problems are a result of not spanking and hitting children enough. 5 Studies have examined physical punishment and antisocial outcomes mostly within childhood or adolescence. 6 For example, studies have found that spanking was associated with increased aggression, 7 behavioral problems, 8 antisocial behavior, 9,10 and externalizing behaviors during childhood. 1,11,12 Many of the previous studies have focused on the early developmental period of preschool or young, school-aged children, with the time between assessments varying across studies. ...
Importance
Inquiry into what childhood experiences are associated with antisocial behaviors in adulthood is necessary for prioritizing and informing efforts for effective prevention.
Objective
To examine whether harsh physical punishment in the absence of child maltreatment and child maltreatment with and without harsh physical punishment are associated with antisocial behaviors in adulthood.
Design, Setting, and Participants
Cross-sectional study using data on the general US population obtained from the National Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions Wave 3 from April 2012 to June 2013. Participants were civilian, noninstitutionalized adults 18 years and older. This study used a multistage probability sampling design (response rate, 60.1%). Data were analyzed from January 25 to November 27, 2018.
Exposures
Harsh physical punishment included pushing, grabbing, shoving, slapping, and hitting. Child maltreatment included physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect, emotional neglect, and exposure to intimate partner violence.
Main Outcomes or Measures
Lifetime antisocial personality disorder behaviors since age 15 years were assessed using the Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule-5 based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) criteria.
Results
The number of study participants was 36 309, with 15 862 men (weighted percentage, 48.1%) and 20 447 women (weighted percentage, 51.9%); mean (SE) age was 46.54 (0.19) years. The prevalence of harsh physical punishment and child maltreatment was 18.1% and 46.7%, respectively. Harsh physical punishment only (adjusted β, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.50-0.75), child maltreatment only (adjusted β, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.60-0.69), and harsh physical punishment and child maltreatment (adjusted β, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.38-1.54) were associated with adult antisocial behaviors. It is estimated that harsh physical punishment and/or child maltreatment might account for approximately 45.5% of antisocial behaviors among men in the United States and 47.3% antisocial behaviors among women in the United States.
Conclusions and Relevance
Harsh physical punishment and child maltreatment appear to be associated with adult antisocial behaviors. Preventing harsh physical punishment and child maltreatment in childhood may reduce antisocial behaviors among adults in the United States.
... The survey findings show higher proportions of caregivers using CP compared to other studies (Regalado, et al., 2004;Slade & Wissow, 2004;Wissow, 2001) but these other studies examined the issue in younger age groups. Contrary to most studies which find use of CP to be higher among Blacks (Berlin et al., 2009;Grogan-Kaylor, & Otis, 2007;Lorber et al., 2011;MacKenzie et al., 2011;Regalado et al., 2004;Wissow, 2001), we found Latinos reporting use of CP in higher proportions than Blacks or Whites. ...
To establish commonalities and differences in social norms related to corporal punishment among Black, Latino, and White parents, we first examine survey data from a random sample of a nationally representative opt-in internet panel (n = 2500) to establish the frequency of corporal punishment among parents of children under five (n = 540) and their perceptions of the frequency of use of corporal punishment in their community and whether they ought to use corporal punishment. We disaggregate by race/ethnicity and education to identify higher risk groups. To better understand the beliefs underlying these perceptions among the higher risk group (i.e., less educated), we used a grounded theory approach to analyze data from 13 focus groups (n = 75) segmented by race/ethnicity (i.e., Black, Latino, or White), gender (i.e., mothers or fathers), and population density (i.e., rural or urban). Survey findings revealed that 63% of parents spanked, albeit the majority seldom or sometimes. Spanking was most frequent among Latinos (73%) and lowest among White parents (59%). While all participants across racial/ethnic groups believed the majority of parents spanked, even more than the proportion that actually do, about half believed they ought to spank. Perceptions of the frequency and acceptability of corporal punishment were associated with use of corporal punishment. The qualitative findings highlight more similarities than differences across Black, Latino, and White communities. The findings suggest social norms change efforts might focus on parents with less education and influencing perceptions around whether they ought to spank.
... Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants were assessed as potential confounders or moderators including: family race/ethnicity, primary caregiver age, level of education, status of relationship with child's father, religion, alcohol consumption, monthly income, and child's age and gender. These characteristics are associated with use of CP (Berlin et al., 2009;Biernat & Wortman, 1991;Day, Peterson, & McCracken, 1998;Dietz, 2000;Ellison et al., 1996;Giles-Sims et al., 1995;Grogan-Kaylor & Otis, 2007;Gunnoe & Mariner, 1997;Jackson et al., 1999;Mackenzie et al., 2012;Muller, Hunter, & Stollak, 1995;Regalado et al., 2004;Simons & Wurtele, 2010;Slade & Wissow, 2004;Smith & Brooks-Gunn, 1997;Straus, 1994Straus, , 2010Straus & Stewart, 1999;Taillieu, Afifi, Mota, Keyes, & Sareen, 2014;Wissow, 2001;Xu, Tung, & Dunaway, 2000;Zolotor, Theodore, Runyan, Chang, & Laskey, 2011). ...
Social norms regarding corporal punishment (CP) may be the most important population-level risk factor for child physical abuse in the U.S. Little is known about the perceived social contexts, such as perceived norms and collective efficacy, that are linked with CP. In particular, there is a paucity of research exploring the direct and/or moderating roles of collective efficacy in reducing CP as a risk factor for child physical abuse. The current study examined the linkages between perceived neighborhood levels of both parenting collective efficacy and injunctive norms regarding CP use with maternal attitudes toward and use of CP. Data were utilized from a survey conducted with female primary caregivers (N = 436) enrolled in Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children clinics in the Greater New Orleans Area. Perceived collective efficacy was not significantly associated with attitudes toward CP, and had only a marginally significant positive association with CP use (χ² (2, N = 436) = 8.88, p = 0.06). Further, perceived injunctive norms (i.e., perceived higher levels of approval) of CP use by neighbors were positively associated with positive attitudes toward CP use (AOR: 6.43; 95% CI 4.00, 10.33) and greater frequency of CP use (AOR: 2.57; 95% CI 1.62, 4.09). There was evidence of effect modification by perceived collective-efficacy on the relation between injunctive norms of neighbors and frequency of CP use (p = 0.082). For those who reported high perceived collective efficacy, there was a significant association between positive perceived injunctive norms and frequency of CP use (AOR: 3.24; 95% CI 1.51, 6.95); this suggests that perceived collective efficacy does not buffer risk for CP use when parents perceive that neighbors approve of its use. Targeted efforts for larger communities to shift beliefs and attitudes regarding CP use may be valuable not only in shifting community norms supportive of CP but also in building supportive community networks that discourage parents from using CP and encourage them to practice non-harsh parenting strategies.
... Emotionally uninvolved or rejecting, no boundary setting 3.7 Over the last two decades there has been extensive and significant research indicating a range of adverse and long-lasting consequences associated with the use of physical discipline (Mulvaney and Mebert, 2007;Slade and Wissow, 2004) and, furthermore, that smacking is an ineffective disciplinary strategy, even in the short term (Gershoff, 2010;. Meta-analyses by Gershoff (2010) and Durrant and Ensom (2012) have found significant links between the use of physical discipline and aggressive behaviour in childhood and adulthood (see also studies by Taylor, Manganello, Lee et al., 2010), antisocial behaviour (Grogan-Kaylor, 2004), and long-term cognitive, developmental, mental health and well-being measures (Gershoff, 2013;Smith et al., 2004). ...
The report presents findings from research with parents of children aged six or under about their attitudes towards managing young children’s behaviour.
... When violence is done then the result is not being discipline, but other behavior problems arise. In some researches, there are cases when parents trying to teach discipline with harshness and punishment to children, so they got the opposite effect of discipline, it's created a negative behavior on their children (Slade & Wissow 2004, Manuel et al. 2010, Sobita 2014, Hart et al. 1992). ...
... Yet the early years of parenting determine the path of subsequent parenting and influence children's development during a particularly formative period. Infants and young children experience multiple developmental transitions, and how parents care for their children during these early years has both short-term and long-term consequences that may extend into adulthood (Slade and Wissow, 2004). Considering this, understanding the determinants of parenting is important in order to establish how we can best support parents and whom we should target for support. ...
This report examines parenting from babyhood to early childhood. We first consider what previous studies have revealed about the nature of good parenting and the determinants of parenting in the early years. Using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children we then set out to establish whether the individual characteristics of mothers and children, and factors such as mothers’ social networks and marital relations, predict certain types of parenting behaviours. We do this by examining how 1,136 mothers interacted with their child when asked to share a picture book with them. This observation exercise, which measured parental warmth and teaching behaviours, took place when the child was aged one, then again at age five. Lastly, we address the implications of our findings for policy and practice.
... Research on spanking has established a connection between parental spanking and problem child behaviors (Berlin et al., 2009;MacKenzie, Nicklas, Brooks-Gunn, & Waldfogel, 2015;MacKenzie, Nicklas, Waldfogel, & Brooks-Gunn, 2013). Spanking during infancy can cause traumatic stress, as research has shown typical cognitive development in infancy does not allow for the infant to comprehend the parents' rationale for punishment or to be able to change their behaviors to comply with the parents' expectations (Slade & Wissow, 2004). Specifically spanking in early childhood is associated with increased externalizing behaviors later in childhood (Gershoff, Sexton, Lansford, Davis-Kean, & Sameroff, 2012). ...
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of maternal level factors (maternal depression, maternal spanking, parenting stress) and child level factors (cognitive ability, attachment, child welfare involvement) with children's problem behavior trajectory from age 3 to age 9. The study used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCW), a 20-city sample of 4898 children born in urban areas in the United States between 1998 and 2001. Results indicate an association of all maternal and child level variables with Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scores. The multilevel model analysis indicates having an insecure attachment type at age 3 had the largest increasing impact on child behavior problems from age 3 to 9. Children's cognitive ability also had an increasing impact on child behavior problems over time and the impact of parenting stress at age 3 had a decreasing impact on behavior problems from age 3 to 9. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
... Subsequent prospective studies yielded similar results, whether they controlled for parental age, child age, race and family structure; 12) poverty, child age, emotional support, cognitive stimulation, sex, race and the interactions among these variables; 13) or other factors. [14][15][16][17] These studies provide the strongest evidence available that physical punishment is a risk factor for child aggression and antisocial behavior. ...
Over the past quarter century, research on physical punishment has proliferated. Almost without exception, these studies have identified
physical punishment as a risk factor in children’s behavioral, emotional, cognitive and brain development. At the same time, the
United Nations has established that physical punishment constitutes a breach of children’s basic human rights to protection and dignity.
Together, research findings and human rights standards have propelled profound global change. To date, 51 countries have prohibited all physical punishment of children. In this article, we review the literature on physical punishment within its historical context,
and provide recommendations for health professionals working with families.
... By contrast, if physical punishment is administered in a context in which spanking is less normative and more aberrant, then the child will likely reject the parents' disciplinary message, and the discipline will be ineffective in promoting appropriate behavior and may instead elicit negative reactive behavior. This hypothesis grew in part from observations that Black parents tend to both endorse (Flynn, 1998;Mosby, Rawls, Meehan, Mays, & Pettinari, 1999) and use (Grogan-Kaylor & Otis, 2007;Slade & Wissow, 2004) physical punishment more often than parents of other racial or ethnic groups, and in part from findings in some studies that harsh physical punishment was not linked with child externalizing behavior among Black families but was linked with higher child externalizing behaviors among White families (Deater-Deckard, Dodge, Bates, & Pettit, 1996). The cultural normativeness perspective thus proposed that physical punishment has no impact, or a less detrimental impact, on children in Black families, who tend to accept the practice as a normal part of being a child in a Black family than on children in White families, in which physical punishment is less normative (Deater-Deckard & Dodge, 1997). ...
The cultural normativeness perspective argues that parenting practices such as spanking are more beneficial for children when they occur in cultural groups within which they are normative. Research on this issue in the United States has focused on race as a marker of culture, and findings have been mixed. The present study presents meta-analyses of five studies that reported effect sizes separately for White (n = 11,814) and Black (n = 3,065) American children (5 to 14 years of age). Mean weighted effect sizes for both groups indicated statistically significant associations with detrimental outcomes; they were not statistically significantly different from one another. Contrary to the cultural normativeness perspective, these results demonstrate that spanking is similarly associated with detrimental outcomes for White and Black children in the United States.
... Un tercer objetivo de este estudio consistió en analizar las diferencias en la disciplina desde un punto de vista evolutivo. Aunque varios estudios han examinado la frecuencia de diferentes estrategias disciplinarias entre niños menores de diez años (Day et al., 1998;Slade y Wissow, 2004;Vittrup, Holden y Buck, 2006), son escasos los trabajos sobre los distintos métodos en diferentes momentos de la adolescencia y preadolescencia. En el caso del castigo físico, su empleo parece disminuir conforme aumenta la edad del menor. ...
This study translated into Spanish the Discipline Dimensions Inventory for Children (DDI-C; Straus y Fauchier, 2007) and examined gender differences in the use of discipline. The results with a sample of 1371 children and adolescents confirmed the original structure of the DDI-C, consisting of 9 factors explained by four second-order factors: Physical and psychological punishment, response cost, inductive discipline and supervision. Mothers used significantly more than fathers all types of discipline, and boys were the focus of more discipline acts than girls. Finally, fathers showed a higher implication in the discipline of sons than of daughters.
... [7][8][9][10] Spanking has been associated with impaired child-parent relationships, poor child selfesteem, mental health problems in adolescence and adulthood, substance abuse, adult domestic violence, and increased aggressive behavior in children. 3,[7][8][9]11 Spanking that has escalated is the etiology of many substantiated reports of physical abuse by child protective services. 3,8,9,12 The pediatric emergency department (PED) is a common location for physical child abuse screenings. ...
Objectives:
To determine the association between use of physical discipline and parental report of physically aggressive child behaviors in a cohort of young children who were without indicators of current or past physical abuse METHODS: The data for this study were analyzed from an initial cohort of patients enrolled in a prospective, observational, multi-center PED-based study investigating bruising and familial psychosocial characteristics of children less than four years of age. Over a seven-month period, structured parental interviews were conducted regarding disciplinary practices, reported child behaviors, and familial psychosocial risk factors. Children with suspected physical abuse were excluded from this study. Trained study staff collected data using standardized questions. Consistent with grounded theory, qualitative coding by two independent individuals was performed using domains rooted in the data. Inter-rater reliability of the coding process was evaluated using the kappa statistic. Descriptive statistics were calculated and multiple logistic regression modeling performed.
Results:
372 parental interviews were conducted. Parents who reported using physical discipline were 2.8 [95% CI 1.7, 4.5] times more likely to report aggressive child behaviors of hitting/kicking and throwing. Physical discipline was utilized on 38% of children overall, and was 2.4 [95% CI 1.4, 4.1] times more likely to be utilized in families with any of the psychosocial risk factors examined.
Conclusions:
Our findings indicated that the use of physical discipline was associated with higher rates of reported physically aggressive behaviors in early childhood as well as with the presence of familial psychosocial risk factors.
... With regard to more direct evidence of problems with social validity, studies have shown an association between race/ethnicity and the acceptability of parenting strategies that are commonly addressed within the content of parent training interventions. Studies showed that African American parents are more acceptable of spanking than non-racial/ethnic minority parents, and findings indicate this difference is not entirely due to racial differences in socioeconomic status (Regalado, Sareen, Inkelas, Wissow, & Halfon, 2004;Slade & Wissow, 2004;Wissow, 2001). Qualitative data obtained from therapists who delivered parent training to diverse families indicated that intervention modifications were often needed to enhance minority parents' receptivity to parenting strategies, such as ignoring minor misbehavior (Self-Brown et al., 2011). ...
This article reviews the literature reporting engagement (enrollment, attendance, and attrition) in culturally adapted parent training for disruptive behavior among racial/ethnic minority parents of children ages 2 to 7 years. The review describes the reported rates of engagement in adapted interventions and how engagement is analyzed in studies, methods to develop adaptations, and adaptations that have been implemented. Seven studies are identified. Parental engagement varied across and within studies. Only one study examined whether adaptations improved engagement compared with non-adapted intervention. Frequent methods to develop adaptations were building partnerships or conducting interviews/focus groups with minority parents or community members. Adaptations included addressing cultural beliefs (perceptions of parenting skills), values (interdependence), or experiences (immigration) that affect parenting or receptivity to interventions; ensuring racial/ethnic diversity of interventionists; and addressing cultural relevancy and literacy level of materials. Future research should examine engagement in adapted interventions compared with non-adapted interventions and examine factors (e.g., immigration status) that may moderate impact on engagement.
... A growing number of longitudinal studies have followed large groups of children with similar baseline levels of aggression to explore whether their aggression increases or decreases over time in response to physical punishment. These studies have demonstrated that physical punishment does indeed contribute to increases in aggression over time (Grogan-Kaylor, 2005;Mulvaney & Mebert, 2007;Slade & Wissow, 2004;Taylor, Manganello, Lee, & Rice, 2010). In a full examination of the causality debate, Gershoff and Bitensky (2008) conclude that even after initial child behavior is accounted for, physical punishment predicts increased child behavior problems. ...
... La disrupción del vínculo y las alteraciones químicas de la respuesta al estrés podrían estar en la base de otras consecuencias negativas del castigo físico para el desarrollo, las cuales han sido documentadas por varias investigaciones. Por ejemplo, se encontró que el castigo físico es un factor de riesgo para la agresión infantil (con padres, pares y hermanos) y la conducta antisocial (Mulvaney & Mebert, 2007, Slade & Wissow, 2004, Taylor, Manganello, Lee, 2010, Grogan-Kaylor, 2004. Adicionalmente el castigo físico se ha asociado a problemas de salud mental en los niños, jóvenes y adultos como depresión, ansiedad, sentimientos de desesperanza, uso de drogas y alcohol, Brownridge, Cox & Sareen, 2006). ...
The purpose of this study was to explore the relation between the temperament, expectations and parenting practices of a sample of 1 year olds (264) and the levels of salivary cortisol as a response to stress in a subsample (59). The response to stress was associated with the variable of disciplinary practices (R=0.31) and negatively correlated with the variables of extroversion (R= -0.35) and regulation (-0.21). There was no correlation found between the variables of temperament and child rearing, which is interpreted in the light of Goodness-of-Fit model. These results are relevant for the planning of parenting programs and highlight the importance of abolishing physical punishment and promoting flexible child rearing practices that adapt to individual differences.
... Recently, Maguire-Jack, Gromoske, and Berger (2012) have suggested that while some studies have labeled CP use as an effective means of discipline and a way of controlling undesired behavior (e.g., Baumrind, 1996aBaumrind, , 1996bBaumrind, , 1997Larzelere, 1996), the majority suggest it is ineffective and has the potential to cause adverse and long lasting side effects to child development (Berlin et al., 2009;Slade & Wissow, 2004;Taylor, Manganello, Lee, & Rice, 2010). These include an increase in anti-social behavior, aggression, drug, alcohol and anxiety problems (Gershoff, 2002;Grogan-Kaylor, 2005), as well as a decrease in the quality of parent-child relationships, moral internalization, mental health, cognitive abilities and self-discipline (Smith, 2004). ...
Corporal punishment (CP) is a common disciplinary strategy used by parents, despite recent evidence associating it with adverse effects on child development. The influence of common beliefs or myths about CP use, particularly those related to its effectiveness and harmlessness, is one possible explanation for its continued use and aligns with past research evidence in other contexts illustrating myths as precursors for behavior. With a sample of young people (N = 366, M age = 19.55 years, SD = 3.79 years), this study aimed to identify whether such myths exist and whether they might predict CP use. However, because no measure yet exists to empirically examine CP myths, a new Corporal Punishment Myths Scale (CPMS) was developed and validated. Results show CP myths exist, are measurable and multidimensional, and can predict disciplining behaviors. Preliminary support was also found for the reliability and validity of the new CPMS. Implications, strengths and limitations, and future directions of this research are also discussed.
... A large and growing literature has shown the negative links between punitive and harsh parenting on children's behavior. When parents engage in higher levels of harsh parenting practices, children exhibit higher levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors (Choe, Olson, Sameroff, 2013; Gershoff, 2002; Slade & Wissow, 2004). In addition, there is evidence to suggest that chronic harsh parenting during childhood is associated with changes in brain development that relate to reduced social and cognitive abilities (Tomoda et al., 2009). ...
This article uses a nationally representative dataset to investigate the extent to which academic-related parenting practices and the home environment during middle childhood (ages 11-13) predict achievement in late adolescence (N = 486; age range: 16-18 years). Results from path analyses indicated that parental endorsement of punitive strategies (e.g., lecture, punish, restrict activities) in response to academic underperformance during middle school predict lower literacy and math achievement 5 years later. In contrast, more cognitively stimulating homes predict higher literacy and math achievement 5 years later. Parenting practices and the home environment indicators, however, did not predict changes in achievement. Socioeconomic and race and ethnicity differences in parenting were also found. (PsycINFO Database Record
(c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
This study aimed to investigate the child, mother, and neighborhood characteristics of mothers’ use of corporal punishment over time using a longitudinal repeated measures analysis. The sample consisted of 3,979 children from waves 2000 and 2002 of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 who resided with their mothers. Hierarchical linear modeling results showed that younger age, race/ethnicity, and behavioral problems of the child significantly predicted the use of corporal punishment by mothers over time. Regarding mothers’ characteristics, we found that only poverty status was statistically significant, and for neighborhood characteristics, mothers’ ratings of neighborhood quality predicted their employment of corporal punishment. Hence, community programs and professionals should provide mothers—especially those struggling financially and living in unsafe neighborhoods—with alternatives to corporal punishment that are culturally sensitive, effective, and harmless.
Background
Although there is evidence of economic disparities in parents' financial and time investments in children, little existing empirical work has considered the disparities in authoritarian parenting, a risk for child maltreatment. Similarly, existing research has largely focused on the role of objective markers of socioeconomic status (SES), although perceived subjective social status (SSS) may be equally powerful in shaping disparities in parenting behaviors.
Data
This article draws on 30 years of General Social Survey data to examine the association between objective socioeconomic status and subjective social status and parents' endorsement of authoritarian parenting practices.
Methods
We model the association between parents' SES and SSS and approval of authoritarian parenting practices estimated with odds ratios from logistic regressions and examine parental race as a potential moderator.
Results
We find that SES and SSS are both associated with increased odds of endorsing authoritarian parenting, that SSS-based disparities are independent of SES, and that white parents' parenting may be more influenced by both SES and SSS than Black parents' parenting.
Conclusions
This work provides evidence that SES not only drives gaps in parental investments in children, but also gaps in their endorsement of authoritarian parenting. This is important because authoritarian parenting is not only directly associated with adverse outcomes for children, but is also associated with an increased risk for child maltreatment. It also expands the existing literature by showing that subjective measures of social status are important and distinct from objective measures of SES, and that these associations vary by race.
Kasus kekerasan pada anak masih marak terjadi khusunya yang terjadi dalam lingkup keluarga. Pelaku kekerasan berdasarkan hubungan orangtua baik suami maupun istri masih sangat tinggi persentasenya. Salah satu strategi yang dilakukan adalah dengan pengasuhan disiplin postif islami. Pengasuhan disiplin positif Islami mengarahkan orang tua melihat dibalik setiap perilaku, perasaan, dan pikiran anak sehingga orang tua mampu memahami perkembangan anak. Kekerasan disebabkan oleh persepsi yang terbangun yakni proses belajar, motivasi, dan kepribadian. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah efektifitas pengasuhan disiplin positif Islami bagi orang tua sebagai upaya penurunan kekerasan terhadap anak di Kabupaten Sidenreng Rappang. Desain penelitian menggunakan quasi-eksperimen yang dilakukan pada 34 orangtua yang berada dalam sebelas kecamatan di Kabupaten Sidrap. Taeknis analisis data yang digunakan adalah uji paired sample T Tes dengan desain eksperimennya yaitu pre test – post test design yaitu dengan membandingkan antara hasil pre test sebelum diberikan perlakuan dengan hasil post test setelah diberikan perlakuan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pengasuhan disiplin positif Islami efektif mengubah persepsi kekerasan orang tua terhadap anak di Kabupaten Sidrap.
Discipline is one of the most challenging tasks for parents of young children. Parental choices of discipline can vary greatly by race and ethnicity (Coley et al., 2014). Research on Latino families’ choices of discipline has been inconsistent and from a deficit lens (Rodriguez, 2008). The current qualitative study uses a Funds of Knowledge framework to understand how Latina mothers from the Western United States with young children make decisions about disciplining their children. A thematic analysis of 42 interviews revealed that discipline choices were grounded in the mothers’ upbringing, education, and work history. The results of this study can inform parent educators, family therapists, and pediatricians to recognize that Latina mothers are not a homogeneous group and understand the underlying factors that determine their disciplinary strategies to better support their effort to discipline their children.
When a child presents to the emergency department with injuries concerning for abuse, a complete evaluation must look beyond the patient's physical exam to identify potential sources of harm as well as protective factors in the family's psychosocial environment. Here we discuss a structured, evidence-based assessment tool designed by our research team for use in its complete form by social workers (when available), or in its abbreviated form by licensed independent practitioners. Even amidst the controlled chaos of the acute care setting, providers can utilize trauma-informed communication strategies to effectively and efficiently elicit an unbiased narrative of relevant historical information and key psychosocial risk factors in the patient's home environment. Without understanding the contributory role of each component to the child's overall risk of abusive injury, it remains difficult to address the root cause of the problem, and the door is thus left open for ongoing harm.
Objective
Examine whether the relationship between ethnicity and parental discipline practices is consistent across contexts.
Background
Harsh discipline has been linked to negative child behaviors and adolescent outcomes. In examining harsh discipline, scholars have observed ethnic differences.
Methods
We use the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS‐K) for the United States and the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) for the United Kingdom. The samples include parents of children aged 7–11 years old (ECLS‐K N = 13,008, MCS N = 11,113). Using logistic regression, we model the associations between parental ethnicity and five disciplinary strategies (spanking, yelling, sending to timeout, discussing, and withdrawing privileges).
Results
Black parents in the United States were more likely to use harsh physical discipline, whereas all ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom exhibited higher odds of using harsh physical discipline than did White parents. By contrast, Hispanic parents and parents from a general Other ethnic category were less likely to use harsh verbal discipline in the United States than White parents are, and Black and Asian parents were less likely than White parents to use harsh verbal discipline in the United Kingdom. White parents were more likely than other ethnic groups to use timeout across countries. Black and Asian parents were less likely to discuss with children in the United Kingdom; compared to White and Asian parents in the United States had lower odds of using discussion as discipline, but Hispanic parents had higher odds.
Conclusions
Ethnic minority parents are likely resorting to harsh physical parenting practices to socialize their children into conforming to social norms that may protect them from negative repercussions in society.
The use of corporal punishment (CP) is a strong risk factor for many poor outcomes for children including child maltreatment. The use of CP occurs within social contexts which are important to understand. Although it is known that perceived social norms regarding CP are related to its use, the specific role that a mother's primary support person plays in influencing attitudes toward and use of CP remains unknown. The current study assessed linkages between maternal perceived social support in parenting and perceived injunctive norms of CP from her primary source of support, with maternal attitudes toward and use of CP. Survey data were collected from female primary caregivers (N = 436) of children age 2 to 7 years (mean age = 3.7) enrolled in Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) clinics in Southeastern Louisiana. Most frequently, the biological father of the child (37.9%) and the maternal grandmother of the child (24.2%) were identified as the participant's primary source of social support in parenting. Perceived injunctive norms of this support person toward CP use were significantly and positively associated with attitudes toward, AOR = 5.97, 95% CI = [4.04, 8.82], and use of CP, AOR = 3.77, 95% CI = [2.55, 5.59]. However, perceived social support was not associated with these outcomes and also did not moderate these associations. Findings suggest that efforts to reduce maternal risk for child physical abuse and use of CP must include the mother's primary source of social support if they are to be successful.
Using a concurrent nested mixed-methods approach, this study assessed racial and ethnic differences in attitudes towards the use of physical discipline in parenting based on data recently collected in Nebraska. Relative to Non-Hispanic White parents, African American parents were more likely to approve the practice of physical punishment to correct misbehavior of children, whereas Hispanic parents were less likely to support physical punishment. There was a positive relationship between acculturation and approval of physical discipline among Hispanic parents. Understanding these differences can help inform the design and implementation of future parenting education programs for parents of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Objectives: To determine the frequency of 14 discipline strategies used by mothers (n = 564) and fathers (n = 335) in caring for their six-month old infant. Methods: Data on discipline practices were obtained from families participating in an obesity prevention trial (Prevention of Overweight in Infancy). Each parent was asked to indicate the frequency of using 14 different discipline strategies during the previous week with their infant. Associations between the use of these strategies and parity, deprivation, parental ethnicity, depression symptoms and infant sex were investigated. Results: Parents reported using both positive (mean: 8.8 for mothers and 7.9 for partners) and negative (0.7 for mothers and 0.7 for partners) strategies over the past week. At six months, positive strategies such as smiling, praising and distraction were most commonly reported (≥87% for both mothers and partners), negative strategies such as smacking, time out and shouting being reported infrequently (≤8% for all). Discipline requiring a level of cognitive understanding not developed at six months was reasonably common, including reasoning (17.7% for mothers, 23.4% for partners), negotiation (6.2%, 11.7%) and ignoring (26%, 19%). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that mothers with more than one child had a lower positive discipline index than those with only one child (difference, 95% C.I.: 1.05 (0.57, 1.54). An increase of one point on the 10-point hostile parenting scale was associated with an increase of 0.18 (0.04, 0.31) for the mothers and 0.47 (0.23, 0.70) for partners on the negative strategy index. Conclusions: Discipline strategies emerge early in infancy and are associated with family size and parental hostility.
English- and Spanish-speaking parents of 1- to 5-year-old children were invited to view 5-10 minutes of parent training program, “Play Nicely,” as part of the well-child checkup. Key measures were parents’ plans to change how they discipline and, if they planned to use less spanking, how the program worked in their situation. Of 197 parents who participated, 128 (65.0%) planned to change how they discipline. Nineteen parents (9.6%) reported that they planned to spank less. The most common reasons for parents to plan to spank less were that the program taught other discipline options (12/19, 63.2%) and that the program taught that spanking was not recommended as a form of discipline (6/19, 31.6%). The majority of parents report that the program works because it offers alternatives to spanking. This study has implications for the development of parent training programs and the primary prevention of child abuse, violence, and other health problems.
Whether spanking is helpful or harmful to children continues to be the source of considerable debate among both researchers and the public. This article addresses 2 persistent issues, namely whether effect sizes for spanking are distinct from those for physical abuse, and whether effect sizes for spanking are robust to study design differences. Meta-analyses focused specifically on spanking were conducted on a total of 111 unique effect sizes representing 160,927 children. Thirteen of 17 mean effect sizes were significantly different from zero and all indicated a link between spanking and increased risk for detrimental child outcomes. Effect sizes did not substantially differ between spanking and physical abuse or by study design characteristics.
The study assessed student disciplinary measures administered by secondary school authorities in Bungoma East Sub-County, Kenya. The study adopted descriptive survey design and mainly targeted learners who stayed mainly under the care of guardians instead of their real parents as well as learners who had parents but such parents that never attended to their school issues. Simple random sampling was used to select 4 schools from the 35 schools in the Sub-County. From the 4 schools, 4 guidance and counseling masters; 4 HOD's in charge of discipline, and 4 principals were purposively sampled for the study. Thereafter, a 10% of learners with indiscipline cases per school were purposefully selected. A similar number of learners who enjoyed full parental care at all levels were randomly selected for comparison purposes.
DAPHNE C. WATKINS, University of Michigan, School of Social Work, 1080 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48 1091106, U.S.A. CHAVELLA T. PITTMAN, Dominican University, 7900 West Division Street, River Forest, IL 60305 U.S.A. MARISSA J. WALSH, University of Michigan, School of Social Work, 1080 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1106, U.S.A. The Effects of Psychological Distress, Work, and Family Stressors on Child Behavior Problems Family stressors help identify behavioral outcomes in children. Yet, there may be subsequent factors associated with child behavior problems. An expansion of the current literature on child behavior problems will allow for further interpretation of these subsequent factors. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of psychological distress and work and family stressors on child behavior problems for parents (N=851) from the 1995 Detroit Area Study. Findings suggest that respondents who were younger, experienced psychological distress, lived in large households, felt bothered as a parent, and had difficulty balancing work and family were more likely to experience child behavior problems than their peers. Implications for this study underscore the application of an intersectional approach when working with children and families so that various aspects of parental and child well-being are addressed by researchers and service professionals.
In Kürze werden in der Schweiz 20 000 Ärztinnen und
Ärzte verschiedener Fachgruppen kostenlos eine neue Broschüre
mit dem Titel «Kindsmisshandlung – Kindesschutz
» erhalten. Hinter der Präventionsoffensive stehen
die Stiftung Kinderschutz Schweiz als Herausgeberin und
der Autor Ulrich Lips, Leiter der Kinderschutzgruppe und
Opferberatungsstelle des Kinderspitals Zürich. Der neue
Leitfaden für Ärztinnen und Ärzte sowie deren Praxisassistentinnen
dient der Früherkennung von Kindsmisshandlung
und dem Vorgehen in der ärztlichen Praxis. Er
wird von der FMH sowie zahlreichen Fachgesellschaften
und -verbänden unterstützt.
The present study investigates how adolescents' experiences of violent victimization exert short- and mid-term effects on their involvement in delinquency. The study compares and contrasts delinquency trajectories of youths whose experiences of violent victimization differ. A multilevel growth-curve modeling approach is applied to analyze data from five waves of the National Youth Survey. The results show that, although delinquency involvement increases as youths experience violent victimization, delinquency trajectories differ with the type of violent victimization, specifically, parental versus non-parental victimization. Violent victimization by parents produced a sharp initial decline in delinquency (short-term effect) followed by a rapid acceleration (mid-term effect). In turn, non-parental violence showed a stable trend over time. The findings have important implications for prevention and treatment services.
© The Author(s) 2015.
A perspective on continuity in development and adaptation was proposed and examined in light of data from the second year of life. Within this perspective it is assumed that despite discontinuous advances in developmental level and despite dramatic changes in the behavioral repertoire, there is continuity in the quality of individual adaptation. Such quality is assessed by examining the child's functioning with respect to issues salient for the particular developmental period. In this study the link between quality of attachment in infancy (the organization of attachment behavior) and quality of play and problem-solving behavior at age 2 years was examined in 48 infants. Based on completely independent assessments, infants assessed as securely attached at 18 months were predicted and found to be more enthusiastic, persistent, cooperative, and, in general, more effective than insecurely attached infants in the 2-year assessment. All measures were in the predicted direction; in some cases there was virtually no overlap between groups. The differences apparently were not due to development quotient (DQ) or temperament. The earlier infant behavior also predicted mother's behavior in the 2-year assessment. Implications for developmental theory and research are discussed.
Although measures of the home environment have gained wide acceptance in the child development literature, what constitutes the “average” or “typical” home environment in the United States, and how this differs across ethnic groups and poverty status is not known. Item-level data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth on four age-related versions of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment–Short Form (HOME-SF) from five biennial assessments (1986–1994) were analyzed for the total sample and for four major ethnic groups: European Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans. The percentages of homes receiving credit on each item of all four versions of the HOME-SF are described. For the majority of items at all four age levels differences between poor and nonpoor families were noted. Differences were also obtained among African American, European American, and Hispanic American families, but the magnitude of the effect for poverty status was greater than for ethnicity, and usually absorbed most of the ethnic group effects on HOME-SF items. For every item at every age, the effects of poverty were proportional across European American, African American, and Hispanic American groups.
2 studies were undertaken to assess the positive affective correlates of secure attachment in infancy and to assess the relation between secure attachment in infancy and competence in the peer group at age 3 1/2 years. In study 1, smiling and smiling combined with vocalizing and/or showing toys distinguished securely from anxiously attached infants during free play at age 18 months. Rated quality of affective sharing distinguished securely from anxiously attached infants during free play at 18 months and 24 months. Thus, secure attachment involves more than the absence of negative or maladaptive behavior directed toward a caregiver. Study 2 assessed cross-age, cross-situational, and cross-behavioral consistency in quality of social adaptation. Quality of infant-mother attachment relationships at age 15 months was related to Q-sort assessments of personal and interpersonal competence in the preschool play-group at age 3 1/2 years. The results contribute to the validation of attachment as an important developmental construct. They also suggest that age appropriate assessment of developmental social competence constructs can be a useful alternative to the study of homotypic behavioral continuity.
The mothers (n = 120) and fathers (n = 85) of children with conduct problems (ages = 3-8 years) completed two measures of child adjustment (Child Behavior Checklist, Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory), three personal adjustment measures (Beck Depression Inventory, Marital Adjustment Test, Parenting Stress Index), and a Life Experience Survey and were observed at home interacting with their children. In addition, teachers (n = 107) completed the Behar Preschool Questionnaire. Fathers' perceptions of their children's behaviors were significantly correlated with teachers' ratings, but mothers' ratings were not. Correlations showed that mothers who were depressed or stressed due to marital problems perceived more child deviant behaviors and interacted with their children with more commands and criticisms. Fathers' perceptions and behaviors were relatively unaffected by personal adjustment measures. Differences in these perceptions and behaviors between mothers and fathers are discussed.
To challenge the application of an unqualified social learning model to the study of spanking, positing instead a developmental-contextual model in which the effects of spanking depend on the meaning children ascribe to spanking.
Population-based survey data from 1112 children aged 4 to 11 years in the National Survey of Families and Households. Controlled for several family and child factors including children's baseline aggression.
Schoolyard fights and antisocial scores on the Behavior Problems Index at the 5-year follow-up.
Structural equation modeling yielded main effects (P < or = .05, change in chi 2) of children's age and race; spanking predicted fewer fights for children aged 4 to 7 years and for children who are black and more fights for children aged 8 to 11 years and for children who are white. Regression analyses within subgroups yielded no evidence that spanking fostered aggression in children younger than 6 years and supported claims of increased aggression for only 1 subgroup: 8- to 11-year-old white boys in single-mother families (P < or = .05, F test).
For most children, claims that spanking teaches aggression seem unfounded. Other preventive effects and harmful effects of spanking may occur depending on the child and the family context. Further efforts to identify moderators of the effects of spanking on children's adjustment are necessary.
To deal with the causal relationship between corporal punishment and antisocial behavior (ASB) by considering the level of ASB of the child at the start of the study.
Data from interviews with a national sample of 807 mothers of children aged 6 to 9 years in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement. Analysis of variance was used to test the hypothesis that when parents use corporal punishment to correct ASB, it increases subsequent ASB. The analysis controlled for the level of ASB at the start of the study, family socio-economic status, sex of the child, and the extent to which the home provided emotional support and cognitive stimulation.
Forty-four percent of the mothers reported spanking their children during the week prior to the study and they spanked them an average of 2.1 times that week. The more spanking at the start of the period, the higher the level of ASB 2 years later. The change is unlikely to be owing to the child's tendency toward ASB or to confounding with demographic characteristics or with parental deficiency in other key aspects of socialization because those variables were statistically controlled.
When parents use corporal punishment to reduce ASB, the long-term effect tends to be the opposite. The findings suggest that if parents replace corporal punishment by nonviolent modes of discipline, it could reduce the risk of ASB among children and reduce the level of violence in American society.
The present study investigated the effects of divorce and family relations on young children's development prospectively, using an ethnically diverse sample of approximately 300 low-income families. We also were able to examine the moderating effects of ethnicity on child adjustment in always two-parent, to-be-divorced, already-divorced, and always single-parent families. Results indicated that to-be-divorced European American and African American families demonstrated higher rates of preschool-age behavior problems, and already-divorced families showed similar trends. Parental conflict and behavior problems accounted for predivorce differences in child behavior problems, whereas rejecting parenting accounted for differences in problem behavior between always single-parent and always two-parent families. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of ethnicity in influencing young, low-income children's adjustment to different family structures.
We present data on corporal punishment (CP) by a nationally representative sample of 991 American parents interviewed in 1995. Six types of CP were examined: slaps on the hand or leg, spanking on the buttocks, pinching, shaking, hitting on the buttocks with a belt or paddle, and slapping in the face. The overall prevalence rate (the percentage of parents using any of these types of CP during the previous year) was 35% for infants and reached a peak of 94% at ages 3 and 4. Despite rapid decline after age 5, just over half of American parents hit children at age 12, a third at age 14, and 13% at age 17. Analysis of chronicity found that parents who hit teenage children did so an average of about six times during the year. Severity, as measured by hitting the child with a belt or paddle, was greatest for children age 5-12 (28% of such children). CP was more prevalent among African American and low socioeconomic status parents, in the South, for boys, and by mothers. The pervasiveness of CP reported in this article, and the harmful side effects of CP shown by recent longitudinal research, indicates a need for psychology and sociology textbooks to reverse the current tendency to almost ignore CP and instead treat it as a major aspect of the socialization experience of American children; and for developmental psychologists to be cognizant of the likelihood that parents are using CP far more often than even advocates of CP recommend, and to inform parents about the risks involved.
Because punishments are intended to control children's behavior, many people assume that the major—and perhaps the sole—consequence of punishment is teaching children to behave as they ought. Yet the use of punishment is (I will argue) counterproductive. Furthermore, the use of punishment has additional unintended consequences. I will attempt to demonstrate how children perceive punishments and what those unanticipated consequences are. These illustrations rest on the nature of reasoning itself, although they are bolstered by empirical evidence.
Although this conference is about the use of corporal punishment, most of what I have to say applies to using any type of punishment—including, of course, physical punishment.
First, punishments give pain and therefore teach children that at least under some conditions, it is all right to give pain to others.
The law of excluded middle asserts that things must be either of one class or not of that class. I believe this law is fundamental to rational thought. Even very young children come to understand it and can therefore reason that parents are either good or not good when they punish.
Let me begin with the assumption that children believe their parents are good. If good people do good things, then if they punish, it must be good to give pain. If good people do bad things, then even if giving pain is bad, it is all right to do some bad things. That is, if a parent uses punishments, then either the parent is doing something right and it is right to give pain or the parent is doing something wrong and it is all right to do something wrong.
The independent contributions of preschool children's noncompliance and overactivity/inattention and measures of family stress to the prediction of negative maternal control were examined in two cohorts of children. In Cohort 1, children's noncompliant and hyperactive behavior each predicted more negative maternal control, whereas in Cohort 2, the interaction between noncompliance and overactivity was predictive of particularly high levels of negative control. In Cohort 2, stressful life events, maternal depression, and marital distress were also associated with negative maternal control. Stressful life events interacted with noncompliance indicating that the combination of a difficult child and a high level of family stress exacerbated the tendency of mothers of preschool children to exert negative control to gain compliance. Results indicate that factors external to the mother-child relationship exert an independent influence on maternal behavior.
Reports an error in the original article by X. Ge et al ( Developmental Psychology , 1996 [Jul], Vol 32[4], 574–589). On page 584, Figure 2, negative signs were mistakenly inserted in front of 2 coefficients. The correct coefficients are given. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1996-01781-002 .). Using an adoption design to collect data on biological and adoptive parents of children adopted at birth, this study explored a possible mechanism through which heritable characteristics of adopted children evoke adoptive parent responses and lead to reciprocal influences between adoptive parent and adopted child behavior. Participants were 25 male and 20 female adoptees, 12–18 years of age, having either a biological parent with substance abuse/dependency or antisocial personality or a biological parent with no such history. The study found that psychiatric disorders of biological parents were significantly related to children's antisocial/hostile behaviors and that biological parents' psychiatric disorders were associated with adoptive parents' behaviors. This genotype-environment association was largely mediated by adoptees' antisocial/hostile behaviors. Results also suggest that the adoptee's antisocial/hostile behavior and adoptive… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
The preference of African American parents for physical discipline is noted frequently in the literature, and it is suggested that this preference is responsible for the over representation of black children in foster care. Our research has found that African American parents in a socialservice intervention program clearly express this preference to their social workers, thereby further jeopardizing their chances of being judged fit parents. Studies of African American parenting styles show that there is a preference for physical discipline in combination with loving verbal reinforcement. This preference seems to represent a deep-seated set of cultural beliefs that cross many generations in the African American community. In spite of the importance of these claims, however, and the apparent cultural character of the preferences, there are relatively few studies of the African. American use of physical discipline and none that report on the preference in any detail. This paper examines extended narrative accounts- of why physical punishment is a preferred form of discipline in the African American community I and how it is ideally to be used. Because the preference for physical discipline is thought to be a deep seated cultural form, and culture is often conveyed through narrative, we have paid careful attention to narrative in examining this preference.
We examine parents' characteristics that influence the incidence of spanking as a discipline strategy in younger and older children. Data were analyzed from the National Survey of Families and Households. We found that different combinations of blocks of predictor variables influenced spanking in eight subsamples. Belsky's model of competent parenting was employed to explain differences in spanking as a discipline strategy. Subsample profiles of spanking suggest that a variety of interventions are needed to decrease this frequently used parenting strategy.
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of marital support, conflict, or divorce to clinic parents' perceptions of child adjustment, parenting behaviors, and child conduct problems. Forty-two maritally supported, 43 maritally distressed, and 32 single parents and their clinic children (aged 3-7) participated in the study. Results revealed significant correlations between mothers' reports of low marital satisfaction and more negative perceptions of child adjustment, increased mother stress levels, increased mother commands, and increased child noncompliance. However, single mothers reported significantly more child behavior problems and perceived themselves as more stressed than the other two groups of mothers. The observational data indicated that single mothers exhibited more critical statements, questions, and commands when interacting with their children and in turn their children exhibited more deviant and noncompliant behaviors than the other two groups of mothers and children. The meanings of these findings and gender differences are discussed.
Objective:
To deal with the causal relationship between corporal punishment and antisocial behavior (ASB) by considering the level of ASB of the child at the start of the study.Methods:
Data from interviews with a national sample of 807 mothers of children aged 6 to 9 years in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement. Analysis of variance was used to test the hypothesis that when parents use corporal punishment to correct ASB, it increases subsequent ASB. The analysis controlled for the level of ASB at the start of the study, family socioeconomic status, sex of the child, and the extent to which the home provided emotional support and cognitive stimulation.Results:
Forty-four percent of the mothers reported spanking their children during the week prior to the study and they spanked them an average of 2.1 times that week. The more spanking at the start of the period, the higher the level of ASB 2 years later. The change is unlikely to be owing to the child's tendency toward ASB or to confounding with demographic characteristics or with parental deficiency in other key aspects of socialization because those variables were statistically controlled.Conclusions:
When parents use corporal punishment to reduce ASB, the long-term effect tends to be the opposite. The findings suggest that if parents replace corporal punishment by nonviolent modes of discipline, it could reduce the risk of ASB among children and reduce the level of violence in American society.Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1997;151:761-767
Despite the fact that black children are disproportionately likely to live in poverty and with single mothers, evidence about
the effects of those experiences on antisocial behavior is based largely on samples of white children. We evaluate race differences
in the processes that link poverty and single parenthood to antisocial behavior, drawing on conceptual models that link structural
conditions to children's well-being through the mediating influences of parental distress and unsupportive parenting. On the
basis of data from the 1988 Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data set, we find that the total effects
of poverty and single parenthood on parenting practices, and of parenting practices on antisocial behavior, do not differ
significantly by race. However, the processes that create those effects do vary by race. Parenting practices and antisocial
behavior are reciprocally related for whites but parenting practices do not significantly predict antisocial behavior for
blacks.
Standard large-sample confidence intervals about a maximum likelihood estimator θ ^ are two-thirds robust; i.e. when the parametric model is imperfect θ ^ often remains consistent and asymptotically normal. The confidence intervals are invalidated only because the third necessary condition, consistency of the variance estimator, fails. The ’delta method’ provides a simple alternative variance estimator which remains consistent under more general conditions and provides robust large-sample confidence intervals.
Debate continues regarding the magnitude and importance of parenting effects on the development of children's externalizing behavior problems, in, spite of the evidence that environments (as well as genes) contribute to individual differences in these behaviors. Research has demonstrated an association between harsh physical discipline and child aggression and conduct problems, a likely causal mechanism that probably operates as a shared environmental factor. We offer four hypotheses about the relation between discipline practices and child externalizing problems that may resolve same debate and help lead toward a more comprehensive understanding of how and when discipline practices will make a substantial difference: 1. The association between discipline and child aggression includes a nonlinear component. 2. The parent behavior-child behavior link varies across cultural groups. 3. Parental discipline effects on children vary according to the context of the broader parent-child relationship. 4. The discipline effect is maximized in same-gender parent-child dyads. Discussion focuses on the role of children's mental representations of discipline experiences as a mediator of discipline effects, and research implications with respect to sampling, measurement, and analytic strategies are noted.
This study examines the effects of marital disruption on children's behavior, accounting for variations in postdisruption living arrangements and the effects of parent-child relationships and marital conflict. The study is based on a 1981 national sample of 1,400 children aged 12-16. Disruption was associated with a higher incidence of several behavior problems, negative effects being greatest with multiple marital transitions. The negative effects are lower if the child lives with the same-sex parent following divorce or maintains a good relationship with one or both parents. High, persistent conflict in intact families is also related to behavior problems.
Compared the reactions of 16 mothers of 6–11 yr old conduct-disordered (CD) boys with those of 16 mothers of normal boys. The dyads in the 2 groups were matched pairwise on age and sex of the child and education of the mother. Each mother interacted with her own child (CD or normal) and with 2 other children of the same or different classification over 3 tasks in a laboratory. Mothers' positive, negative, or requesting behaviors and the children's compliance were counted. The 2 groups of mothers did not differ in the 3 behaviors, but they all addressed more negatives and requests to CD than to normal children. CD children were less compliant, irrespective of type of mother. The type of mother × type of child interaction did not produce a significant effect on either mothers' or children's behavior. Findings suggest that the child's, and not the mother's, behavioral tendency is the major influence in CD. Mothers of CD children were also more coercive toward their own children than to other CD children, indicating the operation of transactional effects arising from cumulative past interactions. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Using an adoption design to collect data on biological and adoptive parents of children adopted at birth, this study explored a possible mechanism through which heritable characteristics of adopted children evoke adoptive parent responses and lead to reciprocal influences between adoptive parent and adopted child behavior. Participants were 25 male and 20 female adoptees, 12-18 years of age, having either a biological parent with substance abuse/dependency or antisocial personality or a biological parent with no such history. The study found that psychiatric disorders of biological parents were significantly related to children's antisocial/hostile behaviors and that biological parents' psychiatric disorders were associated with adoptive parents' behaviors. This genotype-environment association was largely mediated by adoptees' antisocial/hostile behaviors. Results also suggest that the adoptee's antisocial/hostile behavior and adoptive mother's parenting practices affect each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The aim of this study was to test whether the relation between physical discipline and child aggression was moderated by ethnic-group status. A sample of 466 European American and 100 African American children from a broad range of socioeconomic levels were followed from kindergarten through 3rd grade. Mothers reported their use of physical discipline in interviews and questionnaires, and mothers, teachers, and peers rated children's externalizing problems annually. The interaction between ethnic status and discipline was significant for teacher- and peer-rated externalizing scores; physical discipline was associated with higher externalizing scores, but only among European American children. These findings provide evidence that the link between physical punishment and child aggression may be culturally specific. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The independent contributions of preschool children's noncompliance and overactivity/inattention and measures of family stress to the prediction of negative maternal control were examined in two cohorts of children. In Cohort 1, children's noncompliant and hyperactive behavior each predicted more negative maternal control, whereas in Cohort 2, the interaction between noncompliance and overactivity was predictive of particularly high levels of negative control. In Cohort 2, stressful life events, maternal depression, and marital distress were also associated with negative maternal control. Stressful life events interacted with noncompliance indicating that the combination of a difficult child and a high level of family stress exacerbated the tendency of mothers of preschool children to exert negative control to gain compliance. Results indicate that factors external to the mother-child relationship exert an independent influence on maternal behavior.
Using a within-subject, time series approach, two competing models concerning the temporal relations between maternal distress (mood and stress), maternal discipline, and child conduct problems were assessed. Two measures of each of these constructs were collected at 10 assessment points, each separated by 3 to 4 days, in each of 10 single-parent families with a 4- to 5-year-old conduct problem child. After standardizing each of the measures over repeated assessment points in each family and aggregating the data across families, the models were tested using correlational and structural equation analyses. The fit of the data to the models supported the hypothesis that the association of maternal distress with child conduct problems is mediated by her disciplinary practices. On days when mothers reported more negative mood and stress, they were more likely to demonstrate poor disciplinary tactics. Temporal variation in discipline was, in turn, related to same-day variation in the frequency of child conduct problems. However, the model hypothesizing a direct relationship from maternal distress to child problems in addition to the indirect path through discipline was also supported, suggesting that maternal discipline is not the sole mediating variable.
Disruptive boys in kindergarten, selected from teacher ratings in a large study, were each followed up for four successive years. There was considerable continuity of the boys' fighting, despite a declining prevalence in fighting over the years. High oppositional behavior in one year did not consistently predict fighting in the next year. A history of fighting was associated with being held back in grade. Boys were assigned to fighting evolution status on the basis of their fighting scores over the four years: stable high fighters, desisting high fighters, and variable/initiating high fighters. Stable high fighters, unlike desisting high fighters, scored high on nonaggressive antisocial acts at the end of the four years. For some boys, cessation of fighting was associated with later nonaggressive antisocial behavior. Fighting evolution status was examined further in relationship to anxiety, hyperactivity/inattentiveness, and prosocial behaviors. At age 9, stable high fighters, and to a lesser extent variable/initiating high fighters, were more likely to come from single parent families than desisting high fighters. The results are discussed in the context of the development of conduct problems in children.
Family processes affecting the socioemotional functioning of children living in poor families and families experiencing economic decline are reviewed. Black children are of primary interest in the article because they experience disproportionate shares of the burden of poverty and economic loss and are at substantially higher risk than white children of experiencing attendant socioemotional problems. It is argued that (a) poverty and economic loss diminish the capacity for supportive, consistent, and involved parenting and render parents more vulnerable to the debilitating effects of negative life events, (b) a major mediator of the link between economic hardship and parenting behavior is psychological distress deriving from an excess of negative life events, undesirable chronic conditions, and the absence and disruption of marital bonds, (c) economic hardship adversely affects children's socioemotional functioning in part through its impact on the parent's behavior toward the child, and (d) father-child relations under conditions of economic hardship depend on the quality of relations between the mother and father. The extent to which psychological distress is a source of race differences in parenting behavior is considered. Finally, attention is given to the mechanisms by which parents' social networks reduce emotional strain, lessen the tendency toward punitive, coercive, and inconsistent parenting behavior, and, in turn, foster positive socioemotional development in economically deprived children.
The present study investigated the effects of divorce and family relations on young children's development prospectively, using an ethnically diverse sample of approximately 300 low-income families. We also were able to examine the moderating effects of ethnicity on child adjustment in always two-parent, to-be-divorced, already-divorced, and always single-parent families. Results indicated that to-be-divorced European American and African American families demonstrated higher rates of preschool-age behavior problems, and already-divorced families showed similar trends. Parental conflict and behavior problems accounted for predivorce differences in child behavior problems, whereas rejecting parenting accounted for differences in problem behavior between always single-parent and always two-parent families. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of ethnicity in influencing young, low-income children's adjustment to different family structures.
We consider 3 questions regarding the effects of economic deprivation on child development. First, how are developmental outcomes in childhood affected by poverty and such poverty correlates as single parenthood, ethnicity, and maternal education? Second, what are the developmental consequences of the duration and timing of family economic deprivation? And, third, what is the comparative influence of economic deprivation at the family and neighborhood level? We investigate these issues with longitudinal data from the Infant Health and Development Program. We find that family income and poverty status are powerful correlates of the cognitive development and behavior of children, even after accounting for other differences—in particular family structure and maternal schooling—between low- and high-income families. While the duration of poverty matters, its timing in early childhood does not. Age-5 IQs are found to be higher in neighborhoods with greater concentrations of affluent neighbors, while the prevalence of low-income neighbors appears to increase the incidence of externalizing behavior problems.
It is commonly believed that adolescent pregnancy results in greater risk for the young mother and her infant than does pregnancy that occurs at a later age. In order to gain a better understanding of these differences, prenatal and newborn variables were compared for adolescent and nonadolescent mothers. Data are presented and compared from an on-going longitudinal study of risk and protective factors tar adolescent mothers and their infants and a study exploring risk factors for nonadolescent mothers and their infants using comparable measures. One hundred and thirty adolescent mothers and 86 married primiparous non-adolescent mothers were followed. The results indicated that measures of birth weight, gestational age, and 1- and 5-min Apgar scores did not differ between the two groups. Maternal psychosocial characteristics, however, did differ. Adolescent mothers reported being less happy about being pregnant and had less social support. Adolescent mothers also reported less support from the father of the infant. During a newborn feeding interaction, the adolescent mothers vocalized less to their infants than nonadolescent mothers. Implications of the findings for prediction of parenting practices and preventive intervention are discussed.
Disciplinary attitudes and practices of low-income black mothers were examined. Mothers were interviewed about their parenting attitudes and control practices, and their responses were coded in terms of the degree to which they took a parent-versus a child-oriented approach to discipline. Mothers in the sample varied widely in their attitudes toward physical punishment, and mothers who used power-assertive techniques were as likely to take the child's perspective and give input into the socialization process as those who did not. Factors associated with maternal disciplinary styles included: maternal education, father absence, maternal age, and self-reported religious beliefs. Findings are discussed in terms of the variability in disciplinary practices in this population, as well as the factors contributing to these individual differences.
The effect of maternal and environmental factors on the developmental outcome of infants with low medical risk born to adolescent and non-adolescent, primiparous, Caucasian mothers was studied. Twenty-one were adolescent mothers (less than or equal to 17 years of age) and 21 were non-adolescent (21-29 years of age). Assessment of child care support, life stress, and home environment were carried out at 4 months. Infants were examined at 8 months, and child care support and life stress were reassessed. Adolescent mothers reported less child care support at both 4 and 8 months and more life stress at 8 months than non-adolescent mothers. Adolescent mothers were also found to be less responsive, used restriction and punishment more often, and were less involved with their infants during the home observation. Infants of adolescent mothers had lower Bayley Mental Development Indices at 8 months. A theoretical model, whereby the mother's age, education, and socioeconomic status (SES) were conducive to less optimal child care support and life stress, which in turn affected the infant's cognitive status, was supported by this data. Thus, within a low medical risk population, we have documented the significant role of maternal and environmental factors in determining the infant's cognitive status.
The current study investigated a hypothesized link between early child temperament and later problem behavior. Early temperament was assessed at ages 6, 13, and 24 months via mother ratings on age-appropriate versions of the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire. The 24-month form was developed in this study. Factor analyses of the questionnaire indicated a clear difficultness factor that was similar in content across all 3 ages. The 6-, 13-, and 24-month difficultness factors were correlated with home observation measures of mother-toddler interaction at age 24 months. Home observation indexes focused on situations where the mother tried to control the toddler's "trouble" behavior. Children rated by their mothers as difficult at 24 months were found to approach "mild trouble" more frequently than children perceived as easy or average. Furthermore, their mothers used intrusive control tactics more frequently than mothers of easy or average children. Analysis of behavior sequence variables showed that difficult children resisted their mothers' control attempts significantly more often than easy or average children, that is, had more conflict with the mothers. The 6- and 13-month difficultness scores predicted both the 2-year-old difficultness rating and the observed conflict indexes. It is suggested that the conflict observed in the interaction between the difficult 2-year-olds and their mothers is conceptually similar to the conflictual behavior characteristic of older, clinically referred, socially aggressive children and their mothers. Thus, the conflicted interactions found at age 2 years may represent an empirically based link between difficult infant temperament and the development of childhood problem behavior.
113 children were seen at 1 and 6 years of age in order to examine the relationship between the quality of the early attachment relationship and later psychopathology. On the basis of scores from the Achenbach and Edelbrock Child Behavior Profile, an outcome measure of psychopathology at 6 years, the results indicated different outcomes for male and female children. For males, attachment classification at 1 year was significantly related to later psychopathology; insecurely attached males showed more psychopathology than securely attached males. No relationship between attachment and later psychopathology was observed for females. Even for males, the attachment classification only partly predicted later behavioral problems. Several other factors, including life-stress events and family demographic variables, appeared to influence the development of psychopathology. The findings suggest that although the child's attachment relationship plays an important role in the development of psychopathology, the child is neither made invulnerable by an early secure attachment nor doomed to psychopathology by an insecure attachment.
School failure tends to be associated with other negative behaviors, and delinquency in particular has been found to be a common co-occurring difficulty. Factors thought to contribute to the co-occurrence of school failure and delinquency are discussed with the goal of helping clinicians identify among youngsters failing at school those most likely to develop antisocial behavior. The factors addressed include temperament, intelligence, school attitude, peer influence, and parenting practices. The implications of these risk factors for early assessment and treatment are then examined.
This study of 62 low-income families examined the relation between maternal and infant measures assessed at 18 months infant age and child behavior problems at age 5 as rated by preschool teachers. The infancy assessments included measures of mother-infant interaction, maternal psychosocial problems, infant cognitive development, and infant attachment security, including the disorganized/disoriented classification. The strongest single predictor of deviant levels of hostile behavior toward peers in the classroom was earlier disorganized/disoriented attachment status, with 71% of hostile preschoolers classified as disorganized in their attachment relationships in infancy. Maternal psychosocial problems independently predicted hostile aggression in preschool and combined additively with infant attachment security in prediction. Results are discussed in relation to the asymmetry of forward and backward prediction that characterized the findings and in relation to the potential significance of disorganized attachment behavior as a precursor to later maladaptation.
Before formally responding to Dr Graziano's article, it seems prudent to familiarize the reader with certain contextual elements pertinent to the conference, Dr Graziano's paper, and my critique. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) invited a group of nationally known researchers and scholars to take an objective look at the empirical literature on the short- and long-term consequences of corporal punishment. Both the invitation to attend and the preconference materials made it clear that the conference was dedicated to objectivity, rather than an emotional debate. Consequently, any conclusions coming out of the conference were to be data-driven. Although such a commitment to empiricism is a commendable value, many reasonable professionals also hold the opinion that culture and experience shape the realities that individuals both perceive and attend to. All the reviews of the relevant literature on discipline and corporal punishment are shaped by the experiential and cultural baggage of the reviewers.
The present author is not excepted. Although personal musings are not often instructive in scholarly discourse, if the reader will bear with me, I would like to share a brief bit of personal experience and cultural background that may provide additional context for considering Dr Graziano's article, my critique, and the conference in question. In graduate school I was profoundly impacted by reading a philosophy of science book by Thomas S. Kuhn called The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962).1 Succinctly, it is Kuhn's thesis that science does not progress in the logical positivistic manner that we usually talk about.
This chapter presents arguments that contend that the use of punishment is counterproductive. Because punishments are intended to control children's behavior, many people assume that the major—and perhaps the sole—consequence of punishment is teaching children how they ought to behave. However, the use of punishment has additional unintended consequences, and this chapter aims to demonstrate what those unanticipated consequences are and how children perceive punishments. Punishments give pain and therefore teach children that, at least under some conditions, it is all right to give pain to others. The law of the excluded middle asserts that things must be either of one class or not of that class. Even very young child