Parental Corporal Punishment and Child Temperament: Independent and Interactive Predictors of Child Emotion Regulation in China

Abstract

The goal of this study was to simultaneously examine the independent and interactive effects of paternal and maternal corporal punishment, and child temperament on child emotion regulation over time in China. These links were assessed on a longitudinal study of 619 father–mother dyads and their children in primary schools (data collected in 2011 and 2014). Results showed an additive model where both parental corporal punishment and child temperament independently predicted child emotion regulation 3 years later. In addition, the effects of parental corporal punishment exhibited gender differences, with paternal corporal punishment predicting girls’ emotion regulation and both paternal and maternal corporal punishment predicting boys’ emotion regulation 3 years later. Moreover, the interactive effects of paternal and maternal corporal punishment and temperament on child emotion regulation were not found in the present study. These findings point to the importance of examining multiple factors within the family system to further understand the developmental process of child emotion regulation, particularly within the Chinese cultural context.

The role of fathers in children's emotion regulation development: A systematic review

“…Fathers' negative parenting was investigated in seven analyses. Fathers' harsh parenting was associated with lower children's ER; this finding was consistent in the three available studies investigated in preschool and schoolage children (Chang et al, 2003;Wang et al, 2018;Wang et al 2021).…”

The Influence of Parents on Emotion Regulation in Middle Childhood: A Systematic Review

“…Furthermore, we mostly found Western studies. Nine of the 50 published studies were executed with an Eastern dataset [ 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ]. This is important, as research has shown that cultural emotion-related differences may exist.…”

“…In the majority of the included articles, the ERC is employed in line with the concept definitions. However, four studies added both subscales to create a composite index of ER or emotion dysregulation [ 39 , 41 , 45 , 63 ]. The included papers will be discussed in line with the described definitions.…”

“…The value of positive parenting practices and the unfavorable effect of negative parenting practices was mentioned in seven papers [ 35 , 39 , 41 , 42 , 62 , 73 , 87 , 88 ]. Positive parenting practices include, among other things, positive reinforcement if the child behaves as requested, proactive reactions if the situation threatens to get out of hand, explanation of why you, as a parent, apply certain rules, warmth and supportiveness (e.g., encouraging the child).…”

“…It may even compensate for factors counteracting optimal mental health: in a study by Craig et al (2021) [ 87 ], the presence of paternal warmth in childhood protected children with low ER skills against maladaptive psychological adjustment in adolescence. However, ER development is halted if emotional insecurity persists: longitudinal research shows that physical punishment [ 41 ] and authoritarian control [ 62 ] predict lower child ER/emotion lability (measured as one construct), and lower psychological adjustment years later.…”