Relationship Between Corporal Punishment And Family Characteristics

Parental use of corporal punishment is a common method of disciplining children. A large number of studies have found that a series of short-term or long-term negative child outcomes associated with corporal punishment. Therefore, study the determinants of parental corporal punishment could significantly contribute to the healthy development of individuals. Corporal punishment by parents occurs in a complex interaction of family environment, it is multiply determined by parental, child and contextual factors. Research to date has primarily focused on the characteristics of parents and children linked to corporal punishment, few empirical studies have investigated the role of family characteristics. Additionally, Corporal punishment occurred mainly in the family, thus family characteristics on the impact of corporal punishment are very important. Studies have revealed the influence of some family characteristics on parental corporal punishment, but these studies examined the predictors of maternal corporal punishment, or maternal and paternal were investigated as a whole. No studies have separated the fathers and mothers to explore the impact of characteristics of corporal punishment. Although researchers have explored the relationship between corporal punishment and family characteristics, fewer researches have investigated the mechanism underlying relationship of corporal punishment and family characteristics. In sum, we examined the relationship between corporal punishment toward preschool children and family characteristics and expected to further reveal the relationship and the mechanism between corporal punishment and family characteristics.Applying cross-sectional design, the present study used a sample of 631 children and their parents who were recruited from two nursery schools in Jinan City. And the Conflict Tactics Scale of Parent-Child(CTSPC), Child Behavior Checklist(CBCL), Child Behavior Questionnaire(CBQ), Locke Wallace Marital Adjustment Test(MAT) were respectively used to collect data. The main findings of the study were as follows: 1 About sixty-four percent of fathers and seventy-three percent of mathers reported at least one incident of some form of corporal punishment in the past year. Among these parents, About sixty-three percent of fathers and seventy-one percent of mathers reported at least one incident of some form of mild corporal punishment, about twenty percent of fathers and twenty-two percent of mathers reported at least one incident of some form of harsh corporal punishment. Of parents who used corporal punishement at least once during the previous year, fathers reported using mild corporal punishement an average of 3.5 times and using harsh corporal punishement an average of 0.8 times, mathers reported using mild corporal punishement an average of 4.8 times and using harsh corporal punishement an average of 1.0 times.2 the prevalence of corporal punishment by parents was higher for boys than for girls, and no significant gender difference in frequency of mild and harsh corporal punishment existed, the severity of corporal punishement by fathers were higher for boys than for girls, and no significant gender difference in severity of maternal corporal punishment. For age difference, there were no significant age difference in prevalence, frequency and severity of corporal punishement existed.3 SES was not significantly associated with paternal corporal punishment; with the proper control variables(paternal and child), marital quality reported by fathers could significantly predict paternal corporal punishment.4 SES was not significantly associated with maternal corporal punishment; with the proper control variables(maternal and child), marital quality reported by mathers could significantly predict maternal corporal punishment.5 In fathers'reports, SES could not moderate the relationship between marital quality and paternal corporal punishment; in mathers'reports, SES could moderate the relationship between marital quality and maternal corporal punishment.