Corporal Punishment and Personality Traits in the Children of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Abstract

This research examined different forms of corporal punishment as experienced by 155 11- to 17-year-old youths in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The study explored the frequency, severity, fairness, deservedness, and total number of different forms of punishment experienced in relation to six negative personality dispositions: aggression, negative self-esteem, negative self-adequacy, emotional instability, emotional unresponsiveness, and negative worldview. A very high proportion of the youths reported being physically punished. The greater the variety of forms of punishment that males experienced, the more emotionally unstable, hostile/aggressive, and overall psychologically maladjusted they were. But no significant relation emerged between corporal punishment and personality variables for females. A small subgroup of highly punished females as well as males, however, reported more feelings of emotional instability, hostility, and overall psychological maladjustment than did less severely punished youths. Results are discussed within a cultural framework emphasizing the widespread acceptance of corporal punishment in Caribbean cultures.