Validating the Voodoo Doll Task as a Proxy for Aggressive Parenting Behavior.

Abstract

Six studies (N = 1,081 general population parents) assessed the validity of the Voodoo Doll Task (VDT) as a proxy for aggressive parenting behaviors. Participants were given an opportunity to symbolically inflict harm by choosing to stick "pins" into a doll representing their child. Individual differences in parents' trait aggression (Studies 1, 2, and 6), state hostility (Study 3), attitudes towards the corporal punishment of children (Study 4), self-control (Study 6), depression (Study 6), and child physical abuse risk (Study 6) were associated with increased pin usage. Further, parents used more pins after imagining their child perform negative behaviors compared to after imagining their child perform positive behaviors (Study 5). A number of demographic variables also were associated with pin usage: Fathers used pins more than mothers and parents' education level was inversely related to pin usage. Finally, on average, parents viewed the VDT as slightly uncomfortable, but not objectionable, to complete (Study 6). Our evidence suggests that the VDT may serve as a useful proxy for parent-to-child aggression.