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The Intergenerational Transmission Of Parental Corporal Punishment: The Moderating Influence Of Preschoolers’ Temperament

Posted on:2014-01-25Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:H FangFull Text:PDF
GTID:2235330398957776Subject:Development and educational psychology
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Parental use of corporal punishment is a common method of harsh discipline.Corporal punishment is a kind of physical punishment which is defined as the use ofphysical force with the intention of causing a child pain, but not injury, for thepurpose of correction or control of the child’ s behavior. A large amount of researchhas provided the support for the intergenerational transmission of parental corporalpunishment, that is, men and women who were physically punished as children havebeen shown to be more likely to espouse and practice these methods in their ownparenting. However, most research that focused on the intergenerational transmissionof parental corporal punishment has been conducted in Western settings and very littleis known about the intergenerational transmission of parental corporal punishmentamong Chinese societies, especially when disciplining preschoolers. Accordingly, thepresent study explored the characteristics of the corporal punishment conducted byparents in their own parenting for fathers and mothers separately in Chinese societies.Furthermore, the present study examined both the intergenerational transmission ofparental corporal punishment as well as the moderating effects of preschoolers’temperament on continuity across generations in Chinese societies. We expected tofurther reveal the relationship and mechanism between intergenerational transmissionof parental corporal punishment and preschoolers’ temperament.Applying cross-sectional design, the present study used a sample of683preschool children’ s fathers and mothers who were recruited from two ordinarykindergartens in Jinan, Shandong Province. For the purpose of examining both theintergenerational transmission of parental corporal punishment as well as themoderating effects of preschoolers’ temperament on continuity across generations inChinese societies. Self-reported questionnaires were administered from preschoolers’parents to collect the data, including Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (CTSPC)and Child Behavior Check List (CBCL), to survey the corporal punishment they experienced in childhood, their use of corporal punishment in their own parenting,preschoolers’ temperament and other relevant data. Fathers and mothers were asked tocomplete the questionnaires independently. The main conclusions of the study were asfollows:1. Descriptive statistics found that corporal punishment is one of the parents’general approach used,59.8%of mothers and69.8%of fathers reported that theyexperienced corporal punishment when in childhood. Corporal punishment is acommon way of harsh discipline in preschoolers’ growth process. In the past year,72.9%of mothers and64.4%of father perpetrated corporal punishment forpreschoolers, and the average frequency was5.79times for mothers and4.24timesfor fathers respectively.2. Chi-square test (χ2) found that there were significant or marginallysignificant preschoolers’ gender effects in the prevalence of corporal punishmentreported by fathers and mothers, boys experienced more corporal punishmentperpetrated by parents than girls. However, multivariate analysis ofvariance(MANOVA) found that there were no significant preschoolers’ gendereffects or preschoolers’ age effects reported by parents in the prevalence, frequency ofcorporal punishment existed.3. Chi-square test found that the prevalence of corporal punishment perpetratedon preschoolers by parents who had experienced corporal punishment is significantlyhigher than those had not experienced corporal punishment. For those parents who didnot experience parental corporal punishment,56.9%of mothers and56.9%of fathersadopted the use of corporal punishment for preschool children, whereas for thoseparents who experienced parental corporal punishment,83.7%of mothers and86.8%of fathers perpetrated corporal punishment for preschool children.Correlation analysis found that the frequency of corporal punishment reported byparents in childhood was significantly positively related with their corporalpunishment on their own children when they were adults.4. Regression analysis and simple slope analysis found that the intergenerationaltransmission of parental corporal punishment were moderated by negative emotion dimensions and effortful control dimension of preschoolers’ temperament. Highscores of negative emotions is a risk factor in the intergenerational transmission ofparental corporal punishment, namely, as the scores of negative emotion dimension ofpreschoolers’ temperament ascend, the strengthen of the intergenerationaltransmission of parental corporal punishment has a tendency to ascend, high negativeemotions scores can significantly enhance the intergenerational transmission ofcorporal punishment. And high scores of effortful control is a protective factor in theintergenerational transmission of parental corporal punishment, namely, as the scoresof effortful control dimension of preschoolers’ temperament ascend, the strengthen ofthe intergenerational transmission of parental corporal punishment has a tendency todecline, high effortful control scores can significantly relax the intergenerationaltransmission of corporal punishment.
Keywords/Search Tags:intergenerational transmission, parental corporal punishment, preschoolers’ temperament
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