Parental Beliefs and Actual Use of Corporal Punishment, School Violence and Bullying, and Depression in Early Adolescence

Ji-Kang Chen, Zixin Pan and Li-Chih Wang
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Ji-Kang Chen: Department of Social Work, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Zixin Pan: Department of Social Work, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Li-Chih Wang: Department of Special Education, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300044, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: Prior studies on adverse outcomes of parental corporal punishment on children have focused on examining one of two broad domains of parental corporal punishment: parental beliefs or actual use. Recently, researchers have argued that parental belief and actual use of corporal punishment should work jointly to contribute to children’s depression and involvement in school violence. Yet, studies supporting this proposition are lacking. This study examined the indirect link from parental attitudes towards corporal punishment to children’s depression and school violence involvement through actual use of corporal punishment. Four hundred and thirty-three elementary school students and their parents in Taiwan participated in this study. The results indicate that positive parental attitudes towards corporal punishment do not predict children’s depression and involvement in school violence. However, parental attitudes towards corporal punishment had significant indirect relationships with depression and involvement in school violence through the actual use of corporal punishment. These findings applied to both genders. This study supports the proposition that parental attitudes and the actual use of corporal punishment could work together to predict children’s depression and school violence. Future intervention programs for decreasing children’s depressive symptoms and involvement in school violence might need to tackle corporal punishment in the family.

Keywords: corporal punishment; parenting; teachers’ aggression; victimization by teachers; bullying; depression; maltreatment; child abuse; school violence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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