Research on Spanking By Parents: Implications for Public Policy

Straus, Martha

doi:10.1037/e404132008-009

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Attitudes towards corporal punishment are challenging to assess ( 27 ). Straus ( 9 ) and Kish and Newcombe ( 10 ) suggest that beliefs around corporal punishment are often based in selective inattention and an inability to recognize the potential harm. Lack of knowledge or confidence in alternative discipline strategies may also contribute to the difficulty of assessing attitudes ( 27 , 32 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spare the rod, spoil the child: measurement and learning from an intervention to shift corporal punishment attitudes and behaviors in Grenada, West Indies

Landon,

Thomas,

Orlando

et al. 2023

Front. Public Health

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Childrearing practices in the Caribbean and other postcolonial states have long been associated with corporal punishment and are influenced by expectations of children for respectfulness and obedience. Evidence across settings shows that physical punishment of young children is both ineffective and detrimental. Saving Brains Grenada (SBG) implemented a pilot study of an intervention based on the Conscious Discipline curriculum that aimed to build adult caregivers’ skills around non-violent child discipline. We hypothesized that attitudes towards corporal punishment would shift to be negative as adults learned more positive discipline methods, and that child neurodevelopment would correspondingly improve. This report reviews the impact of monitoring and evaluation on the design and implementation of the intervention. Study 1 presents findings from the pilot study. Despite positive gains in neurodevelopmental outcomes among children in the intervention compared to controls, attitudes towards corporal punishment and reported use of it did not change. Additionally, several internal conflicts in the measures used to assess corporal punishment behaviors and attitudes were identified. Study 2 is a response to learning from Study 1 and highlights the importance for monitoring and evaluation to be data-informed, adaptive, and culturally appropriate. In Study 2, the SBG research team conducted cognitive interviews and group discussions with stakeholders to assess the content and comprehensibility of the Attitudes Towards Corporal Punishment Scale (ACP). This yielded insights into the measurement of attitudes towards corporal punishment and related parenting behavior, and prompted several revisions to the ACP. To accurately evaluate the intervention’s theory of change and its goal to reduce violence against children, reliable and appropriate measures of attitudes towards corporal punishment and punishment behaviors are needed. Together, these two studies emphasize the value of continuous monitoring, evaluation, and learning in the implementation, adaptation, evaluation, and scaling of SBG and similar early childhood development interventions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spare the rod, spoil the child: measurement and learning from an intervention to shift corporal punishment attitudes and behaviors in Grenada, West Indies

Landon,

Thomas,

Orlando

et al. 2023

Front. Public Health

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“…The practice of CP, though often claimed to be "cultural," in fact defies any particular cultural association, given that it is currently practiced by parents without restriction in 168 nations and by the vast majority of parents in the united states. two thirds of american parents of very young children (under 2 years) and 80-85% of parents of older children have used CP (gershoff, 2008; global initiative to end all Corporal Punishment of Children, 2010;straus & douglas, 2008). however, culture may influence parents' perceptions of why they use CP and could have implications for how to communicate with parents about CP and other parenting strategies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…in addition to the risk that CP can escalate into physical abuse of the child, reliance on CP can lead to impairment of children's psychological well-being (gershoff, 2008; rodriguez, 2010; straus & douglas, 2008). numerous studies have reported associations between frequency and severity of CP and aggression, delinquent, or antisocial behavior; impaired parent-child relationships; later spousal and child abuse; and slower cognitive development relative to peers who have not experienced CP (gershoff, 2008;straus, 2001a, 2001bstraus & douglas, 2008;straus & Paschall, 2009;Zolotor & Puzia, 2010). in addition, the child's relationship with the parent may be damaged as the child struggles to accommodate the realization that the parent, whom they love and on whom they depend, is intentionally hurting them (Pinheiro, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Universal Parenting Programs Discourage Parents from Using Corporal Punishment: A Program Review

Voisine

Baker²

2012

Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Service

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the curricula of 10 evidence-based, universal, group parent-training programs were examined to determine whether the topic of corporal punishment (CP) is explicitly discussed, whether the program explicitly discourages its use, what reason(s) are offered for refraining from its use, and what alternatives are offered. there was strong agreement among the program curricula that CP is both harmful to the child and an ineffective discipline strategy. Between two and five alternative discipline strategies were offered to parents. the variation among the programs with respect to both arguments against and alternatives to the use of CP makes it difficult to ascertain one critical feature or combination of features of the parenting programs for effectively reducing parent use of CP. Directions for future research and practice are offered.imPliCations For PraCtiCe • the quality of the parent-child relationship is important for preventing disciplinary issues and underlies the promotion of parenting program strategies.• effecting transformation in how parents view their roles may require more than building knowledge through parent training; it may require an additional component that directly addresses parents' attitudes and beliefs about CP. P arenting issues and particularly issues related to child discipline are common concerns addressed by clinical practitioners in family, individual, and couples therapy, and in child welfare service settings. approximately three million u.s. children were reported to child protective services (CPs) in 2009. in extreme cases, social workers in child welfare agencies have seen the results of excessive, harsh, and abusive parenting, resulting in 702,000 substantiated cases of maltreatment (u.s. department of health and human services, 2009). even when parenting practices do not result in CPs involvement, parents and children may experience distress in their relationships as a result of disciplinary and other relational problems. Consequently, practitioners who work with families often need to address parenting strategies, including disciplinary techniques and their impact on child behavior, child mental health, and the parent-child relationship. one source of parenting information made available to parents by practitioners in these service settings consists of group-based parenting programs. in this study, we examined the positions of 10 parenting programs on the use of corporal punishment (CP) as a disciplinary strategy and explored alternatives to it offered to parents by these programs.

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Research on Spanking By Parents: Implications for Public Policy

Cited by 2 publications

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Spare the rod, spoil the child: measurement and learning from an intervention to shift corporal punishment attitudes and behaviors in Grenada, West Indies

Spare the rod, spoil the child: measurement and learning from an intervention to shift corporal punishment attitudes and behaviors in Grenada, West Indies

Do Universal Parenting Programs Discourage Parents from Using Corporal Punishment: A Program Review

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