Troubles in Interracial Talk About Discipline: An Examination of African American Child Rearing Narratives

Abstract

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 social service 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 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.