Parental corporal punishment and children's problem behaviors: The moderating effects of parental inductive reasoning in China

Abstract

Previous research has linked parental corporal punishment and children's problem behaviors, whereas little is known about the effects of fathers' corporal punishment. Moreover, stress-buffering model suggested that parenting practices that are characterized by acceptance, supportive and responsiveness such as inductive reasoning may buffer children against the negative impacts of stressful life events including parental corporal punishment. As such, the current research examined the potential moderating effects of fathers' and mothers' inductive reasoning on the associations between their corporal punishment and children's problem behaviors, and further explored whether the moderating effects of inductive reasoning would be more stronger in same gender dyads (i.e., mother & daughter, father & son) than in mixed gender dyads (i.e., mother & son, father & daughter) within Chinese families. The Chinese version of Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (CTSPC), the parental inductive reasoning items from the Iowa Youth and Families Project, the Youth Self-Report (YSR) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) were used as the main assessment tools. Utilizing a sample of 675 elementary school-age children and their parents, similar patterns of findings between same gender dyads and mixed gender dyads emerged. Both mothers' and fathers' corporal punishment were directly associated with children's problem behaviors, whereas their inductive reasoning failed to moderate these associations. Findings from the current study suggested that it may be difficult for positive parenting (e.g., inductive reasoning) to counteract the adverse effects that parental harsh discipline (e.g., corporal punishment) has on children adjustment, and it may be more meaningful for intervention programs to focus on decreasing both fathers' and mothers' harsh discipline.