The Role of Parental Stress, Mother’s Childhood Abuse and Perceived Consequences of Violence in Predicting Attitudes and Attribution in Favor of Corporal Punishment

Abstract

We investigate maternal attitudes toward corporal punishment and the attribution of blame to the child on the basis of data gathered from a population survey of a representative sample of mothers and mother figures. A total of 3,148 women living at least half of the time with a child participated in a telephone survey. The independent variables included in the multivariate model predicting maternal attitudes and attributions include the child's, the mother's and the family's characteristics and social support. Results of the multiple regression analysis demonstrate the unique contribution of variables according to the mother's characteristics (mother's sensitivity to the consequences of violence, mother's experience of childhood violence and parental stress related to child's temperament). These results partially support the importance of prevention programs that would reduce stress and increase the level of parental empathy through the means of parental training.

Physical Punishment, Mental Health and Sense of Coherence Among Parents of Children with Intellectual Disability in Japan

“…punching, kicking, burning) are regarded as the latter (Gershoff ). According to Clément & Chamberland (), approval of physical punishment was associated with parental stress related to the child's temperament, the mother's sensitivity to the consequences of violence and the mother's experience of childhood violence. In addition, Gershoff (, ) lists a variety of risk factors for the use of physical punishment as follows: the type and severity of children's misbehaviours; the parents’ responsibility, emotional state, age (young), gender (mothers), genetic contributions, sociocultural context (acceptance and expectations by the community) and social support; the child's age (young) and gender (boys); and the legal status and public policy.…”

Are Negative Parental Attributions Predicted by Situational Stress?: From a Theoretical Assumption Toward an Experimental Answer

“…There is some empirical evidence that heightened stress levels are indeed related to more negative parental attributions. For example, stress experienced as a consequence of socioeconomic strain (Berlin et al, 2013;Clement & Chamberland, 2009), parenting stress (Beckerman et al, 2017;Clement & Chamberland, 2009;Haskett et al, 2006), and partner-related stress (Beckerman, Van Berkel, Alink, & Mesman, 2018) was found to be related to more negative parental attributions. However, the study designs were cross-sectional which preclude causality claims.…”

Decreasing Harsh Discipline in Mothers at Risk for Maltreatment: A Randomized Control Trial

“…The most salient distal predictors of harsh discipline and punitive parenting are related to low socioeconomic status (SES), such as poverty and low educational level, which have been strongly associated with parental attitudes in favor of unsupportive and punitive behaviors (Clément & Chamberland, 2009;Jansen et al, 2012;Ricketts & Anderson, 2008). The Family Stress Model proposes that the relation between low SES and harsh parenting is mediated by parental stress (Conger et al, 1992).…”