Mexican-American Disciplinary Practices and Attitudes Toward Child Maltreatment: A Comparison of Foreign-and Native-Born Mothers

Abstract

The present study examined the disciplinary practices and attitudes toward child maltreatment in a sample of foreign-and native-born Mexican-American mothers. Responses to five hypothetical situations involving child misconduct were used to measure disciplinary practices, and responses to three vignettes involving violence against children were used to measure attitudes toward child maltreatment. Between-group differences showed that foreign-born mothers were more likely than native-born mothers to use the disciplinary practices of spanking and verbal reasoning. However, within-group analyses showed that for both groups of mothers prohibiting their child firom watching TVor playing with afriend was preferred over spanking as a disciplinary practice. There were only minor differences between both groups of mothers in their attitudes toward child maltreatment. In addition, spanking and attitudes toward child maltreatment were positively correlated for foreign-born mothers. Results were discussed in terms of the impact of acculturation, and suggestions for future research were offered.