title: The development of attitudes about physical punishment: an 8-year longitudinal study.
abstract: We examined young adolescents' endorsement of parental use of corporal punishment to elucidate processes underlying the intergenerational transmission of discipline strategies. The community sample was ethnically and socioeconomically diverse. Mothers completed interviews and questionnaires when the target children were entering kindergarten (n = 566) and in 6th and 8th grades. Adolescents completed questionnaires when they were in 8th grade (n = 425). Adolescents' attitudes about corporal punishment varied widely. Those adolescents who had been spanked by their own mothers were more approving of this discipline method, regardless of the overall frequency, timing, or chronicity of physical discipline they had received. However, there was no correlation among adolescents for whom physical maltreatment in early or middle childhood was suspected.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, 1227 University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-1227, USA. kirbydd@darkwing.uoregon.edu
authors.forename: Kirby
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deater-Deckard
authors.forename: Jennifer E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Lansford
authors.forename: Kenneth A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Dodge
authors.forename: Gregory S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Pettit
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Bates
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011678:Punishment / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires