| Popis: |
Despite evidence showing the negative impact of physical punishment and psychological discipline on children’s development, these forms of discipline remain accepted and normative in many Asian societies. We examined the extent to which parents used a combination of physical, psychological, and non-violent discipline, and identified factors which contributed to these discipline choices. Participants were 747 Singaporean parents (80.7% mothers) with a child between age 0 to 17. The ICAST-P and an adapted version of the Discipline Interview assessed participants’ actual use of physical, psychological and non-violent discipline; and their attitudes towards physical punishment and their perceived normativeness of it. Parents were also asked to indicate the frequency with which they received physical punishment during childhood. Results showed that nearly half (48.2%) of the parents had used at least one type of physical discipline in the past year. Parents tended to consider physical punishment to be ineffective (42.8%) and unacceptable most of the time (49.1%). Latent Class Analysis (LCA) revealed that 14.6% of the parents were harsh disciplinarians who frequently used physical and psychological discipline alongside non-violent methods. Parents who had younger children, and those who held more positive attitudes towards physical punishment, and experienced more physical punishment during childhood were more likely to be harsh disciplinarians. Future research should focus on understanding why parents use physical punishment despite considering it to be ineffective and unacceptable, so that advocacy efforts can be better formulated to educate and equip parents with non-violent discipline alternatives. |
