Punishment Of Children Research Articles

Anxiety-Promoting Parenting Behaviors: A Comparison of Anxious Mothers and Fathers

The majority of research identifying anxiety-promoting parenting behaviors has been conducted with mothers, leaving a gap in current knowledge about the role of fathers' parenting behaviors. In an attempt to fill this gap, this study compared anxiety-promoting parenting behaviors of anxious mothers and fathers. Parents completed self-report measures of parenting behavior and independent coders rated parenting behaviors (i.e., overcontrol, granting of autonomy, warmth, hostility, anxious behavior) of mothers (n = 34) and fathers (n = 21) during a challenging parent-child interaction task (children were ages 6-12). Results indicated that anxious fathers were observed to be more controlling than anxious mothers; while anxious mothers reported using more punishment and reinforcement of children's dependence in anxiety provoking situations compared to fathers. Findings extend our knowledge about anxious fathers, and highlight the need for additional research on the impact of fathers' parenting with respect to the development of child anxiety.

Reynsla fullorðinna Íslendinga af líkamlegum refsingum og ofbeldi í æsku

Corporal punishment and abuse of children can have a negative impact on their health and well-being. The aim is to examine on Icelandic adults, experience of corporal punishment as children, its prevalence, justification as victims, and its impact on the assessment of their upbringing. From the national population register, out of 1500 randomly selected adults 18 years and older, 977 (65%) participated. In a telephone interview, they appraised their upbringing, followed by questions regarding 5 specific forms of corporal punishment in addition to an open-ended question about other forms experienced. Out of 968 respondents, 810 (84%) regarded their upbringing as good. In total, 465 (48%) reported at least one form of corporal punishment in childhood, with spanking being the most prevalent one (29%). Respondents 30 years and older were 1.9 times more likely to have experienced corporal punishment compared to those who were younger (95% CI 1.4-2.6) and males were 1.6 times more likely to report it compared to females (95% CI 1.2-2.0). Those who had frequently been punished were significantly more likely to hold of the opinion that it had never been justified (OR=6.5; 95% CI 1.8-22.9) and were more likely to judge their upbringing to have been reasonable or bad (OR=10.2; 95% CI 4.7-21.9) compared to those who had no such experience. The practice of corporal punishment of Icelandic children was significantly less prevalent among respondents born about 1980 and later compared to those born earlier. Increased public debate and awareness of children's rights and changed ideas about their upbringing has facilitated such development.

Smacking children: Spare the rod

Journal of Paediatrics and Child HealthVolume 49, Issue 4 p. 340-340 Heads UpFree Access Smacking children: Spare the rod First published: 11 April 2013 https://doi.org/10.1111/jpc.12136_3AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat We have previously published on the evidence suggesting that smacking children is harmful, while acknowledging that studies may possibly be confounded by factors such as socio-economic status and parental stress.1, 2 A review article summarises 20 years of research on physical punishment of children.3 The authors point out that 75% of substantiated physical abuse of children in Canada occurred during episodes of physical punishment. They provide evidence that suggests that the association between smacking children and child aggression is causal. They review the evidence, including randomised controlled trial evidence, that parental support and education programmes to help parents reduce their physical punishment of children are associated with improvements in the children's behaviour. The authors are long-term advocates for the use of positive parenting programmes and for legal change to outlaw the use of physical punishment of children. As such, their non-systematic review is not necessarily totally free of bias, but the large amount of evidence they have accumulated and their passionate advocacy is certainly persuasive. References 1 Oates RK. J. Paed. Child Health 2011; 47: 507– 511. Wiley Online LibraryWeb of Science®Google Scholar 2 Isaacs D. J. Paed. Child Health 2011; 47: 491– 492. Wiley Online LibraryCASPubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar 3 Durrant J, Ensom R. Can. Med. J. 2012; 184: 1373– 1377. CrossrefPubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar Reviewer: David Isaacs, david.isaacs@health.nsw.gov.au Volume49, Issue4April 2013Pages 340-340 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Examining the Intersections between Child Maltreatment and Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women and child maltreatment (CM) have been traditionally addressed in isolation by researchers, policy makers and programs. In recent years, however, a growing body of research suggests that these types of violence often occur within the same household and that exposure to violence in childhood—either as a victim of physical or sexual abuse or as a witness to IPV—may increase the risk of experiencing or perpetrating different forms of violence later in life.Moreover, physical punishment of children is more common in households where women are abused and interventions that address child maltreatment may be less effective in households experiencing IPV. This evidence calls for greater recognition of the intersections between types of violence. We outline specific gaps and present an integrated framework for moving the field forward with respect to the intersection of IPV and CM

Analog of parental empathy: Association with physical child abuse risk and punishment intentions

ObjectivesCurrent research has been inconsistent in corroborating that parents’ compromised empathy is associated with elevated physical child abuse risk, perhaps in part because of an emphasis on dispositional empathy rather than empathy directed at their own children. Research has also relied on self-reports of empathy that are susceptible to participant misrepresentation. The present study utilized an analog task of parental empathy to investigate the association of parental empathy toward one's own child with physical child abuse potential and with their tendency to punish perceived child misbehavior. MethodsA sample of 135 mothers and their 4–9 year old children were recruited, with mothers estimating their children's emotional reactions using a behavioral simulation of parental empathy. Mothers also provided self-reports on two measures of child abuse potential, a measure of negative attributions and expected punishment of children using vignettes, as well as a traditional measure of dispositional empathic concern and perspective-taking. ResultsFindings suggest that parental demonstration of poorer empathic ability on the analog task was significantly related to increased physical abuse potential, likelihood to punish, and negative child attributions. However, self-reported dispositional empathy exhibited the pattern of inconsistent associations previously observed in the literature. ConclusionsParental empathy appears to be a relevant target for prevention and intervention programs. Future research should also consider similar analog approaches to investigate such constructs to better uncover the factors that elevate abuse risk.

Ending the Physical Punishment of Children by Parents in the English-speaking World: The Impact of Language, Tradition and Law

Ending the physical punishment of children remains an enormous challenge. In societies which tolerate even limited physical punishment as discipline or control, it is a response to children that adults may unthinkingly adopt simply because they can. This paper primarily focuses on the language, traditions and law prevailing in English-speaking, common law countries – Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom – that have ratified the CRC but have not yet fully outlawed physical punishment. New Zealand, the first English-speaking country to ban physical punishment, and the United States which has neither ratified the CRC nor fully outlawed physical punishment, are also discussed. Separately, language, traditional attitudes and practices, and laws impacting children’s lives are considered, with a view to envisioning a status quo where adults and children are accorded equal respect as human beings and any degree of physical violence towards children is regarded as an aberration.

Beating and insulting children as a risk for adult cancer, cardiac disease and asthma

The use of physical punishment for children is associated with poor psychological and behavioral outcomes, but the causal pathway is controversial, and the effects on later physical health unknown. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of asthma, cancer, and cardiac patients (150 in each category, 75 male) recruited from outpatient clinics and 250 healthy controls (125 male). All participants were 40-60years old and citizens of Saudi Arabia, where the use of beating and insults is an acceptable parenting style. Demographic data and recalled frequency of beatings and insults as a child were assessed on an 8-point scale. Beating and insults were highly correlated (ρ=0.846). Propensity score matching was used to control for demographic differences between the disease and healthy groups. After controlling for differences, more frequent beating (once or more per month) and insults were associated with a significantly increased risk for cancer (RR=1.7), cardiac disease (RR=1.3) and asthma (RR=1.6), with evidence of increased risk for cancer and asthma with beating frequency of once every 6months or more. Our results show that a threatening parenting style of beating and insults is associated with increased risk for somatic disease, possibly because this form of parenting induces stress. Our findings are consistent with previous research showing that child abuse and other early life stressors adversely affect adult somatic health, but provide evidence that the pathogenic effects occur also with chronic minor stress. A stress-inducing parenting style, even when normative, has long term adverse health consequences.

Physical punishment of children: lessons from 20 years of research.

See related editorial by Fletcher on page [1339][1] and at [www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.121070][2] Over the past two decades, we have seen an international shift in perspectives concerning the physical punishment of children. In 1990, research showing an association between physical

Litigating the Child’s Rights to a Life Free from Violence: Seeking the Prohibition of Parental Physical Punishment of Children Through the Courts

Children’s rights advocates are increasingly seeking to bring about the prohibition of parental physical punishment (PPP) through the courts. However, efforts to challenge state measures permitting such treatment of children have met with mixed success before domestic and international judicial and quasi-judicial bodies. This article focuses on a number of recent decisions by courts and international quasi-judicial bodies in relation to challenges to state permission of PPP. It analyses these decisions with the primary aim of identifying common or contrasting elements in terms of the reasoning employed by judges and other decision-makers in either upholding or striking down the legality of PPP. It argues that the approaches adopted to PPP by the bodies under consideration vary widely in terms of, amongst other things, judicial or quasi-judicial understandings and weighting of children’s rights, the balance struck between such rights and parental autonomy, and the role played by international child rights standards and comparative experiences in relation to the prohibition of PPP. This article considers how these variations operate in relation to determining whether or not a court will be prepared to find in favor of a prohibition of PPP.

Programa de prevención temprana de conductas de riesgo para la salud en preescolares y escolares. Medellín, 2009-2012: una posibilidad para la prevención temprana de las conductas de riesgo en Latinoamérica

OBJETIVO: Evaluar el impacto del programa "¡PILAS! Mejores adultos, mejores niños" diseñado por PREVIVA (Facultad Nacional de Salud Pública, Universidad de Antioquia), con el fin de prevenir conductas de riesgo en niños y niñas de 4 a 11 años de preescolares y escuelas primarias. En el presente artículo se presentaron algunos resultados de la línea de base y la descripción y implementación del programa. MÉTODOS: Se escogieron aleatoriamente 32 escuelas públicas de la zona urbana de Medellín. Se asignaron de manera aleatoria 16 a la intervención y 16 al Grupo Control. Se siguieron 862 niños en el Grupo Intervenido y 874 en el Grupo Control, escogidos aleatoriamente. RESULTADOS: Fue implementado y se está llevando a cabo la evaluación del programa de prevención temprana de la agresión y las conductas de riesgo para la salud en Medellín "¡PILAS! Mejores adultos, mejores niños". La prevalencia de agresión encubierta en el último año fue del 62%, agresión abierta del 34%, y la conducta oposicionista del 2%, según el reporte del cuidador. Los niños reportaron menor prevalencia que los cuidadores para la agresión encubierta y abierta (los 45 y 20%) y superiores para el trastorno oposicionista (el 23%). Se encontró asociación entre diversas formas de castigo y maltrato y las conductas agresivas y oposicionistas de los niños. CONCLUSIONES: Existen altas prevalencias de las conductas agresivas en los niños y de castigo mediante agresión y maltrato contra el niños, y estas formas de agresión se encuentran asociadas con las conductas agresivas de los niños, por los cuales se hace necesario continuar la evaluación de la intervención y extenderla a otras instituciones educativas, introducidos los cambios que sean aconsejables de acuerdo con los resultados de la evaluación.

Collectivism and the meaning of suffering.

People need to understand why an instance of suffering occurred and what purpose it might have. One widespread account of suffering is a repressive suffering construal (RSC): interpreting suffering as occurring because people deviate from social norms and as having the purpose of reinforcing the social order. Based on the theorizing of Emile Durkheim and others, we propose that RSC is associated with social morality-the belief that society dictates morality-and is encouraged by collectivist (as opposed to individualist) sentiments. Study 1 showed that dispositional collectivism predicts both social morality and RSC. Studies 2-4 showed that priming collectivist (vs. individualist) self-construal increases RSC of various types of suffering and that this effect is mediated by increased social morality (Study 4). Study 5 examined behavioral intentions, demonstrating that parents primed with a collectivist self-construal interpreted children's suffering more repressively and showed greater support for corporal punishment of children.

Understanding caregivers’ attitudes towards physical punishment of children: Evidence from 34 low- and middle-income countries

Objectives This article presents findings on caregivers’ attitudes towards physical punishment of children from 34 household surveys conducted in low- and middle-income countries in 2005 and 2006. The article analyzes the variability in attitudes by background characteristics of the respondents to examine whether various factors at the individual and family levels correlate with the caregivers’ beliefs in the need for violent discipline. The article also examines to what extent attitudes influence behaviors and compares groups of respondents to see how attitudes relate to disciplinary practices across caregivers of different socio-economic backgrounds. Methods The analysis is based on nationally representative data from 33 MICS and 1 DHS surveys. Questions on child discipline were addressed to the mother (or primary caregiver) of one randomly selected child aged 2–14 years in each household. The questionnaire asked whether any member of the household had used various violent and non-violent disciplinary practices with that child during the past month. Additionally, the interviewers asked the respondent if she believed that, in order to bring up that child properly, physical punishment was necessary. The sample included 166,635 mothers/primary caregivers. Results The analysis shows that, in most countries, the majority of mothers/primary caregivers did not think there was a need for physical punishment. Overall, characteristics such as household wealth and size, educational level and age, as well as place of residence were significantly associated with caregivers’ attitudes. The analysis confirms that beliefs influence disciplinary practices to a large degree: in all the countries but two, children were significantly more likely to experience physical punishment if their mothers/primary caregivers thought such punishment was needed. However, large proportions of children were found to be subject to physical punishment even if their mothers/primary caregivers did not consider this method necessary. This discrepancy between attitudes and behaviors is observed, although to different extents, in all the countries and across groups of mothers/primary caregivers with different levels of education and wealth. Conclusions The data presented in this article are among the few resources available to help develop a more global understanding of caregivers’ motivation in using violent discipline across a multitude of low- and middle-income countries. As such, the analysis of these data provides important insights for the development of effective strategies that will promote positive parenting practices. However, further data collection and analysis are needed to fully understand the reasons why physical punishment is used – even when caregivers do not think such method is necessary – opening the door for an even sharper programmatic response to change the practice.

Does Conservative Protestantism Moderate the Association Between Corporal Punishment and Child Outcomes?

Using longitudinal data from a sample of 456 focal children in the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), this study examined two research questions: (a) Does corporal punishment of young children (ages 2-4 at baseline) predict increases in levels of externalizing and internalizing problems over a 5‐year study period? (b) Does the religion of the mother--specifically, her conservative Protestant affiliation and conservative beliefs about the Bible--moderate the estimated net effects of corporal punishment? Results revealed that early spanking alone was not associated with adjustment difficulties, but spanking that persisted into or began in middle childhood was associated with difficulties. In contrast to their counterparts from other (or no) religious backgrounds, children whose mothers belonged to conservative Protestant groups exhibited minimal adverse effects of corporal punishment. Several conclusions, limitations, and promising directions for future research are identified.

Love's whipping boy: violence and sentimentality in the American imagination

Working to reconcile the Christian dictum to love one's neighbor as oneself with evidence of U.S. sociopolitical aggression, including slavery, corporal punishment of children, and Indian removal, Elizabeth Barnes focuses her attention on aggressors--rather than the weak or abused--to suggest ways of understanding paradoxical relationships between empathy, violence, and religion that took hold so strongly in nineteenth-century American culture.Looking at works by Herman Melville, Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Louisa May Alcott, among others, Barnes shows how violence and sensibility work together to produce a more sensitive citizenry. Aggression becomes a site of redemptive possibility because salvation is gained when the powerful protagonist identifies with the person he harms. Barnes argues that this identification and emotional transformation come at a high price, however, as the reparative ends are bought with another's blood. Critics of nineteenth-century literature have tended to think about sentimentality and violence as opposing strategies in the work of nation-building and in the formation of U.S. national identity. Yet to understand how violence gets folded into sentimentality's egalitarian goals is to recognize, importantly, the deep entrenchment of aggression in the empathetic structures of liberal, Christian culture in the United States.

Punishing Childhoods: Contradictions in Children's Rights and Global Governance

The article considers childhood corporal punishment as an aspect of the global governance of childhood and raises problems relevant to global governance more broadly. The article analyses contradictions in children's rights advocacy between its universal human rights norms and implicit relativist development model. Children's rights research is influenced by social constructivist theories, which highlight the history of childhood and childhood norms. Earlier social constructivist studies identified the concept of childhood underpinning the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as a Western construction based on Western historical experiences, which excluded the experiences of childhood in developing countries. More recent social constructivist approaches emphasise how childhood norms are constructed and therefore can be reconstructed. The article outlines problems with attempts to globalise childhood norms without globalising material development, and discusses the softening of discipline norms in Western societies historically. It indicates problems with children's rights advocacy seeking to eradicate the corporal punishment of children globally without globalising the material conditions, which underpin the post-industrial ideal of childhood embodied in the CRC.

Maternal experiences of childhood abuse and intimate partner violence: Psychopathology and functional impairment in clinical children and adolescents

Objectives The current study examined the independent effects of mothers’ childhood abuse (CA) and intimate partner violence (IPV) on psychopathology and functional impairment in children; and the potential moderating and mediating role of individual and family factors in these relationships. Additionally, this study explored the potential cumulative effects of both maternal CA and IPV on children's outcomes. Method The sample included 547 Spanish children and adolescents aged between 8 and 17 years, and their parents, who had accessed mental health services. The assessment was based on structured interviews with the children and their parents. Statistical analyses were carried out through hierarchical multiple, negative-binomial and logistic regressions, and Structural Equation Models. Results Children whose mothers experienced CA and those whose mothers suffered physical IPV showed increased DSM-IV disruptive disorders and externalizing behavior problems, respectively. Children who directly observed physical IPV and also suffered physical punishment by parents showed increased internalizing problems. IPV had effects, either direct or indirect by physical punishment, on children's externalizing problems. Cumulative effect analyses indicated that the prevalence of disruptive disorders was highest in children whose mothers had suffered both CA and IPV. Conclusion Spanish children whose mothers have suffered CA, IPV or both, are at high risk of serious conduct problems, whereas children exposed to IPV and who were also physically abused are at greater risk of internalizing problems. Physical punishment of children contributes in part to explain externalizing problems of IPV-exposed children. These findings indicate potential targets of assessment and intervention for families seeking help in mental health services.

Physical punishment of children: Can we continue to accept the status quo?

All children require discipline, although physical punishment is just one form of discipline. Parental use of physical punishment is inter-generational. There is now evidence that physical punishment of children is not only less effective than other forms of discipline but can also lead to aggressive behaviour in childhood and adult life. Twenty-nine countries, including New Zealand, have laws against physical punishment in the home. Australian attitudes are slowly changing in favour of less use of physical punishment, but there is a long way to go. As advocates for children, paediatricians should not be content to accept the status quo.

Corporal punishment of children: Changing the culture

Corporal punishment of children: Changing the culture

Risk Taking and Sensitivity to Punishment in Children with ADHD, ODD, ADHD+ODD, and Controls.

We used the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) to examine risk taking and sensitivity to punishment, two relevant aspects of behavioral inhibition, in 203 school-age children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), ADHD+ODD, and controls. Participants earned points on the BART by pumping 30 separate balloons that exploded at variable intervals. No points were earned on a trial when a balloon exploded. The number of pumps across all balloons estimated risk taking and the reduction in pumps following balloon explosions was interpreted as an indicator of sensitivity to negative punishment. We found that all groups significantly differed from one another on risk taking. The ADHD+ODD group pumped the most, followed by the ODD, ADHD, and the control group, respectively. For sensitivity to negative punishment, all groups performed differently, with the ODD group showing the least sensitivity to an exploded balloon, followed by the ADHD, control, and ADHD+ODD groups, respectively. Children with ADHD+ODD demonstrated significantly different patterns of risk taking and sensitivity to negative punishment than children with either ADHD-only or ODD-only. ADHD youth with comorbid ODD had the greatest levels of risk taking, but they were also the most sensitive to negative punishment. The relationship between ADHD and ODD, as well as the nature of comorbidity in constructs related to risk taking and related behaviors, are discussed.

Socialization of emotion and offspring internalizing symptoms in mothers with childhood-onset depression

This study examines how mothers with and without a history of childhood-onset depression respond to their 3–9 year-old children's emotions. Mother–child dyads included 55 offspring of mothers with a history of childhood-onset depressive disorders and 57 offspring of never-depressed mothers. Mothers with a history of childhood depression were less likely than control mothers to respond in supportive ways to their children's negative emotions and were more likely to magnify, punish, or neglect their children's negative emotions. Magnification, neglect, and punishment of children's negative emotions were concurrently associated with children's internalizing symptoms, and neglect and punishment were associated with internalizing over a one year follow-up. Maternal neglect of children's negative emotion was positively associated with later internalizing symptoms for children who already had higher internalizing symptoms at the initial assessment. Findings suggest that atypical socialization of emotion may be one mechanism in the development of internalizing disorders.