Probability of Corporal Punishment: Lack of Resources and Vulnerable Students

ABSTRACT

The author examined corporal punishment practices in the United States based on data from 362 public school principals where corporal punishment is available. Results from multiple regression analyses show that schools with multiple student violence prevention programs and teacher training programs had fewer possibilities of use corporal punishment, whereas schools that served a greater percentage of ethnic minority students and special education students had a 2.1 times greater and a 1.8 times greater likelihood of use corporal punishment, after controlling for students’ problem behavior and school characteristics. Policy implications for an equal implementation of corporal punishment practice were offered.     

Exploring the reciprocal relations between mothers’ and fathers’ use and attitudes of corporal punishment in China: A cross-lagged analysis

BackgroundCorporal punishment is a commonly used form of disciplinary technique. Sanctified parental attitudes of corporal punishment have been found to be a significant predictor of parental use of corporal punishment in previous research, while little is currently known about the reciprocal relations between parental use and their attitudes of corporal punishment.ObjectiveThis research aimed to examine the reciprocal relations between mothers’ and fathers’ use and attitudes of corporal punishment in China.MethodsData were collected on a total of 320 Chinese father-mother dyads with their children (10–11 years of age at baseline) through convenience sampling techniques at two time points, one year apart. Parents completed self-report measures of mothers' and fathers' use and attitudes of corporal punishment. Children completed self-report measures of parental corporal punishment.ResultsThe cross-lagged analysis indicated that parental attitudes of corporal punishment in a given year predicted their use of corporal punishment in the subsequent year both for mothers (β = 0.15, p < .01) and fathers (β = 0.10, p < .05), while their corporal punishment in a given year did not predict their attitudes of it in the subsequent year (βs < 0.11, ps > .05).ConclusionsFindings indicate that the reciprocal relations do not emerge, with only attitude-behavior effects being evident for both mothers and fathers, while behavior-attitude effects were not present. Findings in the present study highlight the importance of changing both mothers’ and fathers’ favorable attitudes toward corporal punishment when conducting appropriate prevention intervention to decrease its use.     

Maternal use of physical punishment in response to child misbehavior: implications for child abuse prevention

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to examine the roles of cognition and affect in maternal use of physical punishment. METHOD: Through a review of the literature, distal and proximal predictors (cognitive and affective) of physical punishment use were identified. One hundred and ten mothers of 3-year-old children were interviewed regarding two disciplinary situations that occurred during the previous 2-week period that elicited their strongest reactions: one which resulted in the use of physical punishment (if this occurred) and one which did not. The individual and combined contributions of the predictors of physical punishment use were analyzed through logistic regression. RESULTS: The predictors of physical punishment following individual analyses were: maternal attitude toward physical punishment, maternal perception of the seriousness and intent of the child misbehavior, and maternal anger in response to the child misbehavior. Through multivariate analysis 54% of the variance in physical punishment use was explained. CONCLUSIONS: Both cognitive and affective factors affect the decision to use physical punishment with children. These findings can be useful in establishing parenting educational programming that is directed at decreasing the rates of physical punishment and subsequently child physical abuse.     

Estimating the Relationship between Corporal Punishment Use and School Suspensions: Longitudinal Evidence from the Civil Rights Data Collection

Corporal punishment use in schools has decreased significantly over the past several decades; however, little research has explored the implications of such reductions in corporal punishment use. Theoretically, reducing or banning the use of corporal punishment could alter student and teacher behavior, resulting in changes in rates of other forms of discipline, such as suspension. Using nationally representative, longitudinal data from the Civil Rights Data Collection, this study estimates the relationship between corporal punishment use and suspension rates. Results from a series of fixed effects regression models suggest that reduced use or elimination of corporal punishment predicts lower rates of suspension overall but may predict higher rates of suspension in school districts serving larger proportions of racial minority students. Implications of these findings for current policy discussions around corporal punishment bans and for racial equity in school discipline are discussed.     

谈教师惩戒权的界定与运用

教师运用惩戒权具有重要意义,但由于现实生活中人们把惩戒和体罚混为一谈,加之立法规定的不足,致使教师惩戒权处于混沌状态,影响了教育功能的正常发挥。事实上,惩戒和体罚有着本质区别。我们必须科学界定教师惩戒权,并对其进行正确运用。     

Parent discipline in Thailand: Corporal punishment use and associations with myths and psychological outcomes

A basic human right of all children is protection from physical punishment in all settings. Yet, corporal punishment remains common place within families, at home, at school, and elsewhere. In Thailand, cultural beliefs and values might preserve its use. This research sought to explore the use of corporal punishment in Thai homes. It also aimed to investigate young adult retrospective accounts of parent use of corporal punishment and their associations with psychological attributes and the acceptance of certain myths that might perpetuate its use. Two hundred and fifty young people (Mage = 20.26 years, SD = 1.19) recounted their parent’s disciplining strategies related to when they were 10 years old. They also completed the Personality Assessment Questionnaire (Rohner, 1999), the Corporal Punishment Myth Scale (Kish & Newcombe, 2015) and responded as parents to a number of child misbehavior scenarios. Overall, 80.4% reported some instance of corporal punishment as a 10-year-old with lifetime prevalence at 85.5%. Receiving corporal punishment was related to poorer psychological outcomes as a young adult. Myths about corporal punishment significantly predicted the use of that discipline strategy in the scenarios. The results are discussed in relation to Thai cultural values and beliefs and the need to gather further evidence to support further policy and legislative changes.     

Using Bayesian analysis to examine associations between spanking and child externalizing behavior across race and ethnic groups

While corporal punishment is widely understood to have undesirable associations with children's behavior problems, there remains controversy as to whether such effects are consistent across different racial or ethnic groups. We employed a Bayesian regression analysis, which allows for the estimation of both similarities and differences across groups, to study whether there are differences in the relationship of corporal punishment and children’s behavior problems using a diverse, urban sample of U.S. families (n = 2653). There is some moderation of the relationship between corporal punishment and child behavior by race or ethnicity. However, corporal punishment is associated with increases in behavior problems for all children. Thus, our findings add evidence from a new analytical lens that corporal punishment is consistently linked to increased externalizing behavior across African American, White, or Hispanic children, even after earlier externalizing behavior is controlled for. Our findings suggest that corporal punishment has detrimental consequences for all children and that all parents, regardless of their racial or ethnic background, should be advised to use alternatives to corporal punishment.     

Corporal punishment in schools: myths, problems and alternatives

In many countries, corporal punishment of school children continues to be an officially or unofficially sanctioned form of institutional child abuse. Continuing support for the use of corporal punishment is related to the following factors: (1) widely held beliefs regarding the effectiveness of corporal punishment, (2) an unawareness of problems resulting from the use of physical punishment, and (3) a lack of knowledge about effective disciplinary alternatives. The purpose of this paper is threefold: One is to show that many of the beliefs are myths, e.g., corporal punishment is not needed to build character. The second purpose is to show that physical punishment can lead to more problems than it appears to solve, e.g., the punitive teacher is avoided, and thus, is not a positive factor in the child's education and development. The third purpose is to discuss two types of alternatives to punishment, the social learning approach and communication skills training. These positive methods of discipline not only enhance classroom behavior, but also facilitate learning. In an atmosphere free of abusing and demeaning acts and in a classroom characterized by positive mutual regard, teachers can maximize their effectiveness as teachers and students can maximize their effectiveness as learners.     

Attitudes mediate the intergenerational transmission of corporal punishment in China

This research aimed to examine the intergenerational transmission of corporal punishment and the role of parents’ attitudes toward corporal punishment in the transmission processes in Chinese societies. Based on social-cognitive theory, it was hypothesized that parents' attitudes toward corporal punishment would mediate the transmission of corporal punishment. Seven hundred and eighty-five fathers and eight hundred and eleven mothers with elementary school-age children (data collected in winter 2009) were recruited through convenience sampling techniques. The Chinese version of Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (CTSPC) and Attitude toward Physical Punishment Scale (ATPP) were used as the main assessment tools to measure parents' corporal punishment experiences in childhood, current use of corporal punishment and attitudes toward corporal punishment. Findings revealed that the strength of intergenerational transmission of corporal punishment was strong and parents' attitudes toward corporal punishment played a mediating role in the continuity of corporal punishment for both fathers and mothers in China. The findings highlighted the role of attitudes in the intergenerational transmission of corporal punishment within the Chinese cultural context and also suggested the need for intervention programs to focus on modification of maladaptive attitudes toward what is appropriate and effective discipline.     

Dimensions of physical punishment and their associations with children's cognitive performance and school adjustment

This study examined how a range of physical punishment measures, ranging from mild corporal punishment to physical abuse, are associated with cognitive performance, school engagement, and peer isolation over a 3- year span among 658 children initially observed between the ages of 8 and 14. Physical punishment was captured in three groups: mild corporal punishment, harsh corporal punishment, and physical abuse, and both caregiver- and child-reported punishment measures were considered. After accounting for socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, only Ninitial exposure to physical abuse was significantly associated with declines in cognitive performance. However, all forms of physical punishment were associated with declines in school engagement, and harsh corporal punishment was associated with increased peer isolation. Our findings were relatively consistent regardless of whether physical punishment was reported by the child or caregiver. Overall, our findings suggest that the prevention of physical abuse may enhance children's cognitive performance, but that alone may not be sufficient to ensure children are engaged and well-adjusted in school.     

Use and abuse of corporal punishment: a Caribbean view

A sample of 499 Barbadian adults, aged 20 to 59 years, completed written questionnaires to indicate whether they generally approved or disapproved of corporal punishment in child rearing, the perceived advantages and disadvantages of such punishment, the methods and circumstances thought most appropriate for use, and those most inappropriate or ill-advised. Approximately 70% of respondents "generally approved" of corporal punishment, and three-quarters of the remainder considered it occasionally appropriate. There was evidence of considerable consensus as to what constitutes legitimate use of physical punishment and what is unsuitable and/or abusive, although certain differences in the responses of older and younger adults highlighted specific diversities of concern and shifts of attitude over time. The majority considered serious disadvantages to arise only if parents resorted to punishment in an unsystematic, excessive, or self-serving manner, although a small minority thought corporal punishment more generally undesirable or unproductive within the context of contemporary Barbadian society.     

论教育中的惩罚

教育中恰当的惩罚对维护教育秩序和促进学生社会化具有不可替代的作用。教育中的惩罚与社会中的惩罚在目的、情感基础、种类和量度等方面存在着明显的差异。在教育中正确地使用惩罚首先要划清正义与权威角色、群体领域与个人领域、过错行为与糟糕结果、故意行为与非故意行为、非遵从行为与故意违规行为等的界线。在教育中执行惩罚要做好奠定情感基础、选择惩罚种类、控制惩罚量度等方面的工作。惩罚中应坚持慎罚、指向过错、及时与坚定、一视同仁、保持关爱等原则,还要从过错行为和过错动机的消减水平两个方面来评估惩罚使用的效果。     

试论行政处罚的构成要件

行政处罚是享有行政处罚权的行政机关对违反行政法秩序的相对人所给予的制裁,它和刑事制裁、民事制裁一起构成公民的三大责任制度。行政处罚权具有双重性,一方面为管理所需要;另一方面稍有不慎就会危害到相对人的合法权益。因而,要对行政处罚权严加规范和控制。那么行政处罚权要符合哪些要件?行政处罚的构成要件与犯罪构成的要件有哪些异同?研究这些问题不仅是规范行政处罚权的需要,同时也能为行政处罚的实践提供积极的指导。     

Secondary School Teachers’ Perception of Corporal Punishment: A Case Study in India

This article examines secondary school teachers’ perceptions of corporal punishment in India. Although it has been banned in Indian schools, various types of corporal punishment are still used by teachers. It has been mainly used as a mechanism for controlling disciplinary problems in schools. Based on a pilot study of 160 secondary teachers, the result of the research reveals that teachers still perceive corporal punishment as an effective method of controlling indiscipline in class. However, some teachers state that corporal punishment is ineffective in deterring students from misbehaving. Corporal punishment is not a good method to maintain discipline. Adopting harsh methods indicates a lack of proper training in managing students in a classroom situation and a poor understanding by the teachers of students’ mental states. An awareness program for secondary school teachers about the effects of corporal punishment on children is needed. The solution is proper training for teachers and student-teachers in the use of counseling to manage behavioral problem. Also full-time counselors can be appointed in schools.     

Changing public attitudes towards corporal punishment: the effects of statutory reform in Sweden

OBJECTIVE: One justification for a statutory ban on physical punishment is that passage of such legislation changes public attitudes towards the use of this form of parental discipline. The experience in Sweden is often cited as an example of legislation which changed public opinion. The aim of this brief article is to review the public opinion findings in Sweden in order to evaluate in greater detail the impact of changing the law. METHOD: A search was conducted to generate all published and publicly-available quantitative surveys of the public in Sweden and elsewhere. RESULTS: The results of time-series analysis of the data are clear. The 1979 legal reform in Sweden did not reduce the level of public support for parental use of corporal punishment as a means of disciplining children. Support for physical punishment began declining years before the reform was passed and the decline was in no way accelerated by the law reform. Changes in public opinion may have generated the legal reform, but the reverse is not true. Data from other jurisdictions also support the view that there is no relationship between the status of the law and the nature of public views with regard to corporal punishment. This result is consistent with analyses of the effects of legal reforms in other areas. CONCLUSIONS: The Swedish ban on corporal punishment did not affect public attitudes. Changing public views requires other initiatives.     

中小学校教育惩戒与纪律处分之融合

对于未成年学生的教育惩戒问题,国内外教育学界早有关注。总体上经历了从绝对惩戒教育到“无批评式教育”再到强调惩戒合理性的演变过程。学界对教育惩戒的认识还存在一定的分歧。法学界学者一般将《教育法》《义务教育法》等教育法律法规中规定的学校“处分”学生的措施视为教育惩戒;而多数教育学界学者则将教育惩戒与纪律处分区分开来,教育惩戒强调教师惩戒学生的权利。在教育相关的立法层面上试图区分教育惩戒与纪律处分,并将二者结合使用,细化教育惩戒和纪律处分的具体措施,分梯次使用惩戒与处分,进一步规范中小学纪律处分措施,构建未成年人惩戒与处分等学校不良记录封存的制度。     

死刑的成本分析

死刑是剥夺犯罪人生命的一种刑罚方法,无论在理论上关于死刑的立法设置,还是司法实践中关于死刑的适用范围,都争论得如火如荼。从经济学的角度着眼,利用经济学的理论和研究方法来研究死刑的效用问题,并对死刑的成本进行剖析,从而探求死刑的成本及死刑效用的最大化。     

Corporal punishment and children's externalizing problems: A cross-sectional study of Tanzanian primary school aged children

The adverse effect of harsh corporal punishment on mental health and psychosocial functioning in children has been repeatedly suggested by studies in industrialized countries. Nevertheless, corporal punishment has remained common practice not only in many homes, but is also regularly practiced in schools, particularly in low-income countries, as a measure to maintain discipline. Proponents of corporal punishment have argued that the differences in culture and industrial development might also be reflected in a positive relationship between the use of corporal punishment and improving behavioral problems in low-income nations. In the present study we assessed the occurrence of corporal punishment at home and in school in Tanzanian primary school students. We also examined the association between corporal punishment and externalizing problems. The 409 children (52% boys) from grade 2 to 7 had a mean age of 10.49 (SD = 1.89) years. Nearly all children had experienced corporal punishment at some point during their lifetime both in family and school contexts. Half of the respondents reported having experienced corporal punishment within the last year from a family member. A multiple sequential regression analysis revealed that corporal punishment by parents or by caregivers was positively related to children's externalizing problems. The present study provides evidence that Tanzanian children of primary school age are frequently exposed to extreme levels of corporal punishment, with detrimental consequences for externalizing behavior. Our findings emphasize the need to inform parents, teachers and governmental organizations, especially in low-income countries, about the adverse consequences of using corporal punishment be it at home or at school.     

Antecedents and socioemotional consequences of physical punishment on children in two-parent families

OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this study was to test a structural model of the antecedents and socioemotional consequences of mothers' use of physical punishment on children in two-parent families. METHOD: Mother-child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, based on a sample of 1397 4- to 9-year-old children, were used to test a structural model derived by the author from previous research. The hypothesized model was revised; the revised model was cross validated on a split-half sample, and estimated separately by age group, gender, and race/ethnicity. RESULTS: The revised model fit the data well and was supported by cross-validation. Poverty, maternal birth age, parents' education, maternal depression, and marital conflict were directly or indirectly related to mothers' frequent use of physical punishment. Frequent use of physical punishment was directly related to children's socioemotional problems, as were maternal depression and marital conflict. Few subgroup differences were found. CONCLUSIONS: Main findings indicate that the effect of poverty on mothers' use of physical punishment is indirect, and is mediated by maternal depression and marital conflict. Depressed mothers spank their children more frequently and experience higher levels of marital conflict, which, in turn, is directly related to their use of physical punishment. Younger, more educated mothers spank their children less often. Children who are spanked more frequently exhibit more socioemotional problems.     

Examining Punishment and Discipline: Defending the Use of Punishment by Coaches

Confusion, uncertainty, and debate often surround the terms discipline and punishment because scholars fail to publicize that they possess distinctive meanings. This article differentiates punishment from discipline and attempts to present some rationale supporting its use, especially corporal punishment, in a sport setting from a coaching perspective. Punishment and discipline appear appropriate to study in the sporting environment because coaches must work with their players and actions affecting one player often impact the others. Thus, a wrongful behavior committed by one frequently extends consequences on teammates. Overall, this work proposes that punishment serves as an effective treatment when a coach intends to instruct, train, drill, and cultivate behavior and learning from those mentally capable of appreciating its objective. Punishment arguably appears most appropriate when a coach believes there is no other alternative for censuring and deterring behaviors and restoring the balance between victims, offenders, and the team or organization. It also appears to be an appropriate method to help perpetrators alleviate a sense of guilt or shame because punishment motivates offenders to demonstrate their repentance, a requirement for reentering society as a whole person in the eyes of others and oneself. Support for punishment also focuses on its unique ability to maintain or create order and stability, while also satiating negative feelings associated with victimization. Finally, this work argues we must recognize conventional punishment is age appropriate and proportional to the violation. Overall, punishment is acceptable because when properly measured, it supports the intrinsic worth of people as moral agents.