Physical punishment, culture, and rights: current issues for professionals

A study on the subjectivity of South Korean parents regarding corporal punishment in early childhood

BACKGROUND

We conducted this study after South Korea abolished parental disciplinary rights in 2021.

OBJECTIVE

This study identifies the characteristics of parental perceptions regarding types of corporal punishment administered to children by discovering the in-depth subjective structure of perceptions.

PARTICIPANTS

We recruited 40 participants (parents with children aged two to six years) after posting a notice on the bulletin boards of infant nursing and education institutions in Seoul.

METHODS

The study employed Q methodology. The research procedure involved 40 Q-samples (selected from the Q-concourse) classified according to P-samples of 40 participants. We used the QUANL program to analyze data.

RESULTS

We categorized parents' perceptions into four types: removal (corporal punishment is wrong and should not be used), discipline (corporal punishment is a disciplinary method), trigger (certain triggers induce corporal punishment), and habit (corporal punishment occurs habitually). While all parents in the four types perceived corporal punishment as an action to avoid, stopping it in childcare settings was difficult. Some parents viewed it as necessary and revealed the importance of setting standards. Results showed that support measures (such as parental education and legal measures) are required to correct misconceptions and inaccurate knowledge about corporal punishment and create a quality, nurturing environment for children.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings provide meaningful data supporting measures to reduce parental corporal punishment that inhibits growth in early childhood.

Corporal punishment of children in Australia: The evidence-based case for legislative reform

OBJECTIVE

Across all of Australia's states and territories, it is legal for a parent or carer to hit their child. In this paper, we outline the legal context for corporal punishment in Australia and the argument for its reform.

METHODS

We review the laws that allow corporal punishment, the international agreements on children's rights, the evidence on the effects of corporal punishment, and outcomes of legislative reform in countries that have changed their laws to prohibit corporal punishment.

RESULTS

Legislative reform typically precedes attitude changes and reductions in the use of corporal punishment. Countries with the most ideal outcomes have instigated public health campaigns educating the population about law reform while also providing access to alternative non-violent discipline strategies.

CONCLUSIONS

Extensive evidence exists demonstrating the adverse effects of corporal punishment. When countries change legislation, educate the public about these effects, and provide alternative strategies for parents, rates of corporal punishment decrease.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH

We recommend law reform in Australia to prohibit corporal punishment, a public health campaign to increase awareness of corporal punishment and its effects, provision of access for parents to alternative evidence-based strategies to assist in parenting, and a national parenting survey to monitor outcomes.

Norm violations and punishments across human societies

Punishments for norm violations are hypothesised to be a crucial component of the maintenance of cooperation in humans but are rarely studied from a comparative perspective. We investigated the degree to which punishment systems were correlated with socioecology and cultural history. We took data from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample database and coded ethnographic documents from a sample of 131 largely non-industrial societies. We recorded whether punishment for norm violations concerned adultery, religion, food, rape or war cowardice and whether sanctions were reputational, physical, material or execution. We used Bayesian phylogenetic regression modelling to test for culture-level covariation. We found little evidence of phylogenetic signals in evidence for punishment types, suggesting that punishment systems change relatively quickly over cultural evolutionary history. We found evidence that reputational punishment was associated with egalitarianism and the absence of food storage; material punishment was associated with the presence of food storage; physical punishment was moderately associated with greater dependence on hunting; and execution punishment was moderately associated with social stratification. Taken together, our results suggest that the role and kind of punishment vary both by the severity of the norm violation, but also by the specific socio-economic system of the society.

Applying Universal Principles of ‘Best Interest’: Practice Challenges across Transnational Jurisdictions, Cultural Norms, and Values

This article sets out key issues in determining and upholding the best interests of children, in need of social service support, who have family networks that span outside of the UK. These issues are then analysed against whether and how child protection professionals take these into account along with an overall consideration of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’s (UNCRC) ‘best interests of the child’, when assessing and planning for those needs in kinship care cases. Building on these themes, the findings of an exploratory study on international kinship care cases carried out by Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB), the UK branch of the non-governmental organisation, International Social Service, as well as CFAB’s associated Freedom of Information Requests to the UK government, are examined. These are then analysed in relation to legal and policy documents in England. Agency case records are analysed to identify a range of factors for children placed with ‘kinship’ carers across national borders, relating to the cultural relativity of the ‘best interest’ principle, the availability of family support in different social service structures, the understanding and application of legislation and policy in transnational contexts, and the availability of markers to track and analyse the scale of children crossing borders to join family.

"He Who Spareth the Rod Hateth His Son": Perceptions Regarding Corporal Punishment Among Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Fathers in Israel

Based on the findings of substantial research, Western professionals today perceive corporal punishment as a threat to child well-being. They also view it as a violation of children's rights. Nonetheless, many minority groups in Western societies still consider it to be a legitimate child-rearing practice. In response to this gap, this article presents qualitative findings from an exploratory context-informed study of Ultra-Orthodox Jewish fathers in Israel, regarding their perceptions and ascribed meanings of corporal punishment. Our exploration was guided by the following research question: What are the constructions, perceptions, beliefs, and meanings associated with corporal punishment among Ultra-Orthodox Litvak fathers in Israel? The thematic analysis of 15 in-depth semi-structured interviews yielded two central themes. The first is the view of corporal punishment as an educational tool with legitimacy based on religious sources and emotion-focused rationales. The second theme deals with different limitations on and guidelines regarding this legitimacy. Children were struck as a result of behavior that parents experienced as extreme, and striking the child in response to religious wrongdoing was viewed as problematic. The fathers interviewed stressed the need to suit the punishment to the child, in terms of the intensity of the blow, frequency, and the age of the child. The fathers also emphasized the importance of the child's subjective experience being one of education as opposed to humiliation. Implications from these findings illustrate the gaps between the Ultra-Orthodox community and professionals who espouse the Western view that prohibits corporal punishment; at the same time, they portray the fathers as expressing an intricate approach toward corporal punishment, with conditions and limitations, as opposed to absolute approval. This article advocates a context-informed approach toward dealing with corporal punishment in minority groups that legitimize the practice. Adopting such an approach may contribute to better cooperation between professionals and their clients from minority groups, and advance child well-being.

Opinions et positions de médecins à l’endroit de la punition corporelle comme pratique parentale disciplinaire

Contexte de l’étude

Les médecins sont parmi les professionnels les plus sollicités par les parents pour obtenir des conseils sur l’exercice du rôle parental. Pourtant, ils sont rarement formés pour informer les parents, et particulièrement en ce qui concerne la légitimité des pratiques disciplinaires comme la punition corporelle (PC).

Objectifs

Cette étude vise à documenter les attitudes de médecins québécois en faveur de la PC ainsi que leur pratique de soutien auprès des parents.

Méthodes

Au total 113 médecins œuvrant au moins 20% du temps avec des enfants mineurs ou leurs parents ont complété un sondage en ligne sur leurs caractéristiques personnelles et professionnelles, leurs connaissances et attitudes face à la PC et leurs pratiques de soutien.

Résultats

Les résultats montrent que les répondants connaissent bien les balises légales de l’article 43 du Code criminel canadien qui encadrent le recours aux PC et qu’ils sont en désaccord avec cette méthode disciplinaire. Lorsqu’ils soupçonnent une situation de PC envers un enfant, les médecins répondants offrent diverses modalités de soutien aux parent (ex.: aborder le sujet, proposer d’autres pratiques disciplinaires), ce qui est moins souvent le cas lorsque la situation implique un adolescent. Enfin, les résultats montrent que certains facteurs sont associés aux pratiques de soutien des répondants, dont les attitudes face aux PC et le sentiment d’être suffisamment formé pour aborder les pratiques disciplinaires avec les parents.

Conclusions

Ces résultats soulignent l’importance d’outiller et de soutenir les médecins dans leurs interventions auprès des parents en difficulté.

The Impact of the Triple P Seminar Series on Canadian Parents’ Use of Physical Punishment, Non-Physical Punishment and Non-Punitive Responses

Physical punishment of children is linked to negative developmental outcomes. The widely used Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) promotes alternative responses to physical punishment. Data on the effectiveness of the Triple P Seminar Series is limited. In this study, Canadian parents’ reports of physical punishment, non-physical punishment, and non-punitive responses were compared before and after they attended the Triple P Seminar Series. Twenty-seven parents of children aged 2 to 6 years attended the Seminar Series and completed pre- and post-intervention questionnaires measuring the number of times they used various physical punishments, non-physical punishments, and non-punitive responses in the past month. Hypotheses were tested using univariate descriptive analyses, paired samples t tests, and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Tests. Parents’ reports of physical punishment decreased on only one of the four physical punishment items (shaking/grabbing) from pre- to post-intervention. Over the course of the Seminar Series, parents became more likely to emphasise rules and to punish their children by taking things away from them. The findings suggest that the Seminar Series has limited effectiveness in reducing physical punishments or increasing non-punitive responses. Further research on this question is needed.

Effective Discipline to Raise Healthy Children

Pediatricians are a source of advice for parents and guardians concerning the management of child behavior, including discipline strategies that are used to teach appropriate behavior and protect their children and others from the adverse effects of challenging behavior. Aversive disciplinary strategies, including all forms of corporal punishment and yelling at or shaming children, are minimally effective in the short-term and not effective in the long-term. With new evidence, researchers link corporal punishment to an increased risk of negative behavioral, cognitive, psychosocial, and emotional outcomes for children. In this Policy Statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics provides guidance for pediatricians and other child health care providers on educating parents about positive and effective parenting strategies of discipline for children at each stage of development as well as references to educational materials. This statement supports the need for adults to avoid physical punishment and verbal abuse of children.

Reducing violence by teachers using the preventative intervention Interaction Competencies with Children for Teachers (ICC-T): A cluster randomized controlled trial at public secondary schools in Tanzania

The high global prevalence of school violence underlines the need for prevention. However, there are few scientifically evaluated intervention approaches that aim at preventing violence by teachers. We evaluated the feasibility and efficacy of the preventative intervention Interaction Competencies with Children for Teachers (ICC-T). In a cluster randomized controlled trial we assessed attitudes towards and use of violence by teachers (self-reported and reported by students) at eight schools in four regions in Tanzania. Two regions were randomly assigned as intervention regions. Data were assessed in the months before and three months after intervention. In total, 158 teachers (58% females; age: 32.08 years, SD = 5.65) and 486 students (54% females; age: 15.61 years, SD = 0.89) participated in this study. The feasibility was very good: Participants' acceptance was high and they reported a good integration of the core elements in their working routine. The significantly stronger decrease in the use of emotional and physical violence reported both by teachers and students as well as the stronger decrease in positive attitudes of teachers towards physical and emotional violence in the intervention schools at follow-up provide initial evidence of the efficacy. However, further evidence for the sustainability of its effect is needed.

Violence and maltreatment in Tanzanian families-Findings from a nationally representative sample of secondary school students and their parents

Though the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations aim to end all forms of violence against minors, child maltreatment remains a globally prevalent phenomenon. Despite the fact that parents in numerous countries apply violent discipline methods to control children's behavior, little is known about the prevalence of maltreatment and violent discipline in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this study, we examined the prevalence of maltreatment and violent discipline from both the adolescents' and parents' perspectives. In addition, we explored risk factors that could be associated with violent discipline by parents. We administered questionnaires to a nationally representative sample of 700 Tanzanian secondary school students (52% girls, mean age: 14.92 years, SD = 1.02, range: 12-17) and 333 parents or primary guardians (53% females; mean age: of 43.47 years, SD = 9.02, range: 19-71). More than 90% of all students reported exposure to violent discipline by a parent within the past year. Concurrently, more than 80% of parents acknowledged using violent discipline techniques. Using a path model, we found that violent discipline by parents was associated with parental stress. Other risk factors contributed to a higher stress level but were not directly linked to maltreatment. Our findings indicate high levels of violent discipline in Tanzanian families. There is a pressing need to design and implement interventions that prevent children from experiencing violence at home. Reducing parents' stress levels may be a starting point for intervention. Yet, due to the high levels of violent discipline, societal beliefs also need to be considered.

Race as a Moderator of Associations Between Spanking and Child Outcomes

The cultural normativeness perspective argues that parenting practices such as spanking are more beneficial for children when they occur in cultural groups within which they are normative. Research on this issue in the United States has focused on race as a marker of culture, and findings have been mixed. The present study presents meta-analyses of five studies that reported effect sizes separately for White (n = 11,814) and Black (n = 3,065) American children (5 to 14 years of age). Mean weighted effect sizes for both groups indicated statistically significant associations with detrimental outcomes; they were not statistically significantly different from one another. Contrary to the cultural normativeness perspective, these results demonstrate that spanking is similarly associated with detrimental outcomes for White and Black children in the United States.

Unaccompanied refugee minors' early life narratives of physical abuse from caregivers and teachers in their home countries

The early life narratives of 34 unaccompanied refugee minors, especially their reports of interpersonal violence, were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The youth originated from eight countries, with Afghanistan, Eritrea, and Sri Lanka being the most frequent origins, and they arrived to Norway before the age of 15. Four of these youth were girls. The physical violence took place at home and/or at school and could be extremely harsh. Approximately half of the youth expressed some type of ambivalence toward the perpetrator. In analyzing how the youth understood the reasons for violence two categories of internal and three categories of external attributions were found. Several of the youth blamed their own behavior for the abuse, although such internal attributions were frequently combined with external attributions. Some different patterns of attributions emerged between home and school violence. Most of the youth placed the blame for school violence on their own behavior or that violence was part of normal school discipline. For violence at home there was a tendency to place more blame on the perpetrator (mostly fathers). Possible long-term consequences of the experiences and the different attributional styles as well as implications of the findings are discussed. Professionals should assess refugee children for interpersonal violence experiences as well as for other experiences in their home country.

Childhood adversities and adult use of potentially injurious physical discipline in Japan

Using data derived from the World Mental Health Japan Survey (n = 1,186), this study examined the intergenerational continuity of potentially injurious physical discipline of children in a community sample from Japan with a special focus on the confounding effects of 11 other types of childhood adversities (CAs) and the intervening effects of mental disorders and socioeconomic status. Bivariate analyses revealed that having experienced physical discipline as children and five other CAs was significantly associated with the use of physical discipline as parents in the Japanese community examined. However, childhood physical discipline was the only CA that remained significant after adjusting for the other CAs. The association of childhood physical discipline with adult perpetration was independent of the respondents' mental disorders and household income. No significant gender differences were found in the associations between childhood physical discipline and adult perpetration. The current study on Japan provided empirical support consistent with results found in other countries regarding the intergenerational transmission of child physical abuse.

Age, sex, and racial differences in harsh physical punishment: results from a nationally representative United States sample

The purpose of this research was to examine age, sex, and racial differences in the prevalence of harsh physical punishment in childhood in a nationally representative sample of the United States. Data were from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) collected in 2004 and 2005 (n=34,653). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine age, sex, and racial differences in the prevalence of harsh physical punishment. Results suggest that the prevalence of harsh physical punishment has been decreasing among more recently born age groups; however, there appear to be sex and racial differences in this trend over time. The magnitude of the decrease appears to be stronger for males than for females. By race, the decrease in harsh physical punishment over time is only apparent among Whites; Black participants demonstrate little change over time, and harsh physical punishment seems to be increasing over time among Hispanics. Prevention and intervention efforts that educate about the links of physical punishment to negative outcomes and alternative non-physical discipline strategies may be particularly useful in reducing the prevalence of harsh physical punishment over time.

Cultural considerations and child maltreatment: in search of universal principles

Cultural diversity poses challenges within the health care setting, particularly regarding the question of how health professionals can resolve the tension between respecting cultural norms or child-rearing practices and the importance of determining what constitutes harm and child maltreatment. Cultural competency and respect for cultural diversity does not imply universal tolerance of all practices. The United Nations provides a standard of universal child rights, protecting them from harmful practices. Pediatric providers must respect cross-cultural differences while maintaining legal and ethical standards of safety and wellbeing for children, promoting evidence-based prevention of maltreatment, and advocating for child wellness across all cultures.

Quantile Regression Analysis and Other Alternatives to Ordinary Least Squares Regression

Data analyses by classical ordinary least squares (OLS) regression techniques often employ unrealistic assumptions, fail to recognize the source and nature of heterogeneity, and are vulnerable to extreme observations. Therefore, this article compares robust and non-robust M-estimator regressions in a statistical demonstration study. Data from the Erlangen-Nuremberg Development and Prevention Project are used to model risk factors for physical punishment by fathers of 485 elementary school children. The Corporal Punishment Scale of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire was the dependent variable. Fathers’ aggressiveness, dysfunctional parent-child relations, various other parenting characteristics, and socio-demographic variables served as predictors. Robustness diagnostics suggested the use of trimming procedures and outlier diagnostics suggested the use of robust estimators as an alternative to OLS. However, a quantile regression analysis provided more detailed insights beyond the measures of central tendency and detected sources of considerable heterogeneity in the risk structure of father’s corporal punishment. Advantages of this method are discussed with regard to methodological and content issues.

A brief intervention affects parents' attitudes toward using less physical punishment

Consecutive English and Spanish speaking caregivers of 6-24 month old children were randomly assigned to either a control or intervention group. Parents in the intervention group were instructed to view at least 4 options to discipline a child in an interactive multimedia program. The control group participants received routine primary care with their resident physician. After the clinic visit, all parents were invited to participate in a research study; the participation rate was 98% (258/263). The key measure was the Attitudes Toward Spanking (ATS) scale. The ATS is correlated with parents' actual use of physical punishment. Parents with higher scores are more likely to use physical punishment to discipline their children. Parents in the intervention group had an ATS score that was significantly lower than the ATS score of parents in the control group (median=24.0, vs. median=30; p=0.043). Parents in the control group were 2 times more likely to report that they would spank a child who was misbehaving compared with parents in the intervention group (16.9% vs. 7.0%, p=0.015). In the short-term, a brief intervention, integrated into the primary care visit, can affect parents' attitudes toward using less physical punishment. It may be feasible to teach parents to not use physical punishment using a population-based approach. The findings have implications for how to improve primary care services and the prevention of violence.

Health-related quality of life is low in secondary school children in fiji

The health and wellbeing of children in lower-income countries is the focus of much international effort, yet there has been very little direct measurement of this. Objective. The current objective was to study the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a general population of secondary school children in Fiji, a low middle-income country in the Pacific. Methods. Self-reported HRQoL was measured by the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 in 8947 school children (aged 12-18 years) from 18 secondary schools on Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji. HRQoL in Fiji was compared to that of school-aged children in 13 high- and upper middle-income countries. Results. The school children in Fiji had lower HRQoL than the children in the 13 comparison countries, with consistently lower physical, emotional, social, and school functioning and wellbeing. HRQoL was particularly low amongst girls and Indigenous Fijians. Conclusions. These findings raise concerns about the general functioning and wellbeing of school children in Fiji. The consistently low HRQoL across all core domains suggests pervasive underlying determinants. Investigation of the potential determinants in Fiji and validation of the current results in Fiji and other lower-income countries are important avenues for future research.

Spanking and child development during the first 5 years of life

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N=3,870) and cross-lagged path analysis, the authors examined whether spanking at ages 1 and 3 is adversely associated with cognitive skills and behavior problems at ages 3 and 5. The authors found spanking at age 1 was associated with a higher level of spanking and externalizing behavior at age 3, and spanking at age 3 was associated with a higher level of internalizing and externalizing behavior at age 5. The associations between spanking at age 1 and behavioral problems at age 5 operated predominantly through ongoing spanking at age 3. The authors did not find an association between spanking at age 1 and cognitive skills at age 3 or 5.

Longitudinal links between spanking and children's externalizing behaviors in a national sample of White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian American families

This study examined whether the longitudinal links between mothers' use of spanking and children's externalizing behaviors are moderated by family race/ethnicity, as would be predicted by cultural normativeness theory, once mean differences in frequency of use are controlled. A nationally representative sample of White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian American families (n = 11,044) was used to test a cross-lagged path model from 5 to 8 years old. While race/ethnic differences were observed in the frequency of spanking, no differences were found in the associations of spanking and externalizing over time: Early spanking predicted increases in children's externalizing while early child externalizing elicited more spanking over time across all race/ethnic groups.

Attributions and Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers in Sweden

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined mean level similarities and differences as well as correlations between mothers' and fathers' attributions regarding successes and failures in caregiving situations and progressive versus authoritarian attitudes. DESIGN: Interviews were conducted with both mothers and fathers in 77 Swedish families. RESULTS: Fathers reported higher adult-controlled failure and child-controlled failure attributions than did mothers; these differences remained significant after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. Significant positive correlations were found for mothers' and fathers' progressive attitudes, authoritarian attitudes, and modernity of attitudes after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that in Sweden fathers are more likely to attribute failures in caregiving situations both to themselves and to children than are mothers and that there is moderate concordance between fathers and mothers within the same family in progressive and authoritarian parenting attitudes.

Perceived Instrumentality and Normativeness of Corporal Punishment Use among Black Mothers

Corporal punishment (CP) remains highly prevalent in the U.S. despite its association with increased risk for child aggression and physical abuse. Five focus groups were conducted with parents (n=18) from a community at particularly high risk for using CP (Black, low socioeconomic status, Southern) in order to investigate their perceptions about why CP use is so common. A systematic qualitative analysis was conducted using grounded theory techniques within an overall thematic analysis. Codes were collapsed and two broad themes emerged. CP was perceived to be: 1) instrumental in achieving parenting goals and 2) normative within participants' key social identity groups, including race/ethnicity, religion, and family of origin. Implications for the reduction of CP are discussed using a social ecological framework.

Mothers' spanking of 3-year-old children and subsequent risk of children's aggressive behavior

OBJECTIVE

The goal was to examine the association between the use of corporal punishment (CP) against 3-year-old children and subsequent aggressive behavior among those children.

METHODS

Respondents (N = 2461) participated in the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (1998-2005), a population-based, birth cohort study of children born in 20 large US cities. Maternal reports of CP, children's aggressive behaviors at 3 and 5 years of age, and a host of key demographic features and potential confounding factors, including maternal child physical maltreatment, psychological maltreatment, and neglect, intimate partner aggression victimization, stress, depression, substance use, and consideration of abortion, were assessed.

RESULTS

Frequent use of CP (ie, mother's use of spanking more than twice in the previous month) when the child was 3 years of age was associated with increased risk for higher levels of child aggression when the child was 5 years of age (adjusted odds ratio: 1.49 [95% confidence interval: 1.2-1.8]; P < .0001), even with controlling for the child's level of aggression at age 3 and the aforementioned potential confounding factors and key demographic features.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations to the contrary, most parents in the United States approve of and have used CP as a form of child discipline. The current findings suggest that even minor forms of CP, such as spanking, increase risk for increased child aggressive behavior. Importantly, these findings cannot be attributed to possible confounding effects of a host of other maternal parenting risk factors.

A brief intervention may affect parents' attitudes toward using less physical punishment

Ninety-six parents in a preschool and pediatric clinic participated in a randomized study of a brief parenting intervention. The Attitudes Toward Spanking (ATS) scale was measured at baseline, and, on average, 4 months postintervention. Higher ATS scores are correlated with increased use of physical punishment. In the intervention group, there was a 2.7-point decrease in the ATS score at follow-up compared with baseline (P = 0.01). There was no decrease in the ATS in the control group. Brief interventions may shift parental attitudes toward using less physical punishment and have implications for improving anticipatory guidance within primary care and early education.