Corporal Punishment, Maternal Warmth, and Child Adjustment: A Longitudinal Study in Eight Countries

Abstract

Two key tasks facing parents across cultures are managing children's behaviors (and misbehaviors) and conveying love and affection. Previous research has found that corporal punishment generally is related to worse child adjustment, whereas parental warmth is related to better child adjustment. This study examined whether the association between corporal punishment and child adjustment problems (anxiety and aggression) is moderated by maternal warmth in a diverse set of countries that vary in a number of sociodemographic and psychological ways. Interviews were conducted with 7- to 10-year-old children (N = 1,196; 51% girls) and their mothers in 8 countries: China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States. Follow-up interviews were conducted 1 and 2 years later. Corporal punishment was related to increases, and maternal warmth was related to decreases, in children's anxiety and aggression over time; however, these associations varied somewhat across groups. Maternal warmth moderated the effect of corporal punishment in some countries, with increases in anxiety over time for children whose mothers were high in both warmth and corporal punishment. The findings illustrate the overall association between corporal punishment and child anxiety and aggression as well as patterns specific to particular countries. Results suggest that clinicians across countries should advise parents against using corporal punishment, even in the context of parent–child relationships that are otherwise warm, and should assist parents in finding other ways to manage children's behaviors.

Notes

Note: The four corporal punishment items and 8 warmth items are presented as composite scales in the table, but in the multivariate analyses, the items were treated as indicators of latent variables. M = mother report; C = child report; T1 = Time 1; T2 = Time 2; T3 = Time 3; AA = African American; EA = European American; LA = Latin American.

Note: Tabled values are standardized coefficient estimates (standard errors), which can be interpreted as effect sizes, from country-specific models for main effects of warmth and corporal punishment and the interaction between warmth and corporal punishment in the prediction of mother-reported and child-reported child anxiety. Analyses controlled for child gender, mother's education, and a dichotomous indicator of single-parent household. AA = African American; EA = European American; LA = Latin American.

*p < .05.

Note: Tabled values are standardized coefficient estimates (standard errors), which can be interpreted as effect sizes, from country-specific models for main effects of warmth and corporal punishment and the interaction between warmth and corporal punishment in the prediction of mother-reported and child-reported child aggression. Analyses controlled for child gender, mother's education, and a dichotomous indicator of single-parent household. AA = African American; EA = European American; LA = Latin American.

*p < .05.

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