Validating the voodoo doll task as a proxy for aggressive parenting behavior.

Abstract

Objective Six studies (N = 1,081 general population parents) assessed the validity of the Voodoo Doll Task (VDT) as a proxy for aggressive parenting behaviors. Methods Participants were given an opportunity to symbolically inflict harm by choosing to stick “pins” into a doll representing their child. Results 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). Conclusions Our evidence suggests that the VDT may serve as a useful proxy for parent-to-child aggression.

Parents’ spontaneous evaluations of children and symbolic harmful behaviors toward their child

“…First, parents completed several paper-and-pencil questionnaires that assessed constructs relevant to CPA: The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992), and the Self-Control Scale (Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004). These measures are unrelated to the current research, but are reported in McCarthy et al (2016).…”

“…Parents ( N = 197) who engaged in the main study were the same as those in Study 6 of McCarthy et al (2016); however, results from analyses described herein have not been published before. One person reported they were a non-parent at the time of the study and their data were omitted from analyses.…”

“…In this packet was a paper-and-pencil version of the parent-child Voodoo Doll task. This task was derived from previous research that adapted the task for use in the parenting domain (e.g., McCarthy, Crouch, Basham, Milner, & Skowronski, 2016). In our version of this task, parents wrote about a time their child had angered them.…”

“…Parents were told this was much “like sticking pins into a Voodoo doll.” Previous research has demonstrated that pin usage on the Voodoo Doll Task is positively associated with measures such as parents’ trait aggression, state hostility, and attitudes towards corporal punishment. Moreover, parents are more likely to use pins in response negative child behaviors than in response to positive child behaviors (McCarthy et al, 2016). Thus, as with this past research, in our main study a greater number of stickers placed onto the outline of the child by parents is interpreted as a greater inclination to harm their imagined child.…”

“…This finding would be consistent with social-cognitive models of general aggression (e.g., DeWall, Anderson, & Bushman, 2011) and social-cognitive models of CPA (e.g., Azar, 1986; Milner, 1993, 2003). However, to our knowledge, there has not been any research assessing whether parents’ spontaneously-formed evaluations are related to their tendencies to inflict symbolic harm on their child (e.g., DeWall et al, 2013; McCarthy, Crouch, Basham, Milner, & Skowronski, 2016). …”