Child Physical Punishment and School Readiness: The Moderating Role of Co-occurring Parenting Approaches

Camille Guérin Marion, B.Sc. w Kelly Weegar, B.A. w Sabrina Fréchette, Ph.D. w Elisa Romano, Ph.D.

• Research has long documented the potential risks that physical punishment poses for children’s development, particularly within the externalizing and internalizing domains.

• The degree to which PP influences children’s cognitive and academic skills has received less empirical attention, although a growing body of evidence suggests PP may interfere with the development of such skills (e.g., Berlin et al., 2009; Mackenzie et al., 2012).

• School readiness, defined as the status of a child’s competencies (e.g., cognitive skills) prior to or at the moment of school entry (Snow, 2006), has been shown to be a robust predictor of school achievement. Since PP is most commonly used with preschoolers (Straus & Stewart, 1999), it would seem important to explore the extent to which it may influence children’s school readiness.

• As parents use multiple parenting and disciplinary practices alongside--and sometimes simultaneously with—physical punishment, the impact of physical punishment should be studied as part of a broader parental and disciplinary context. Within the specific context of school readiness, it is important to consider how PP interacts with parenting variables that can influence a child’s early learning ability, including co-occurring disciplinary strategies and engagement in learning and literacy activities.

Research Objectives & Hypotheses

Method

Participants

Participants included 5,513 children aged 2-3 years from cycles 6 (2004-2005) and 7 (2006-2007) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), a Canadian longitudinal population-based survey (Statistics Canada, 2010).

Procedure

We followed these children over a 2-year span through cycles 7 (2006-2007) and 8 (2008-2009) of the NLSCY, at which point they were aged 4-5 years. Parent reports of physical punishment were collected when children were 2-3 years, while school readiness was measured when children were 4-5 years using direct assessments of receptive vocabulary and number competence.

Predictors• Physical Punishment w Parent Practices Scale (Strayhorn & Weidman, 1988): “Please tell me how often you, as his/her parent,

do each of the following when this child breaks the rules or does things that he/she is not supposed to: …use physical punishment? ”. The item was answered on a 5-point scale from “never” (0) to “always” (4). Caregiver responses were dichotomized such that any responses other than 0 (“never”) indicated the presence of physical punishment.

• Explaining/teaching w Parent Practices Scale (Strayhorn & Weidman, 1988) : (1) Calmly discussing the problem (1 item) w• (2) Describing alternative ways of behaving that are acceptable (1 item)• Psychological aggression w (1)Telling child that he/she is bad or not as good as others w (2) Yelling/scoding at child. • Non-physical punishment w Taking away privileges or putting him/her in his/her room.• Parent-Child Engagement in Learning and Literacy Activities w selected items from the U.S. Early Childhood

Longitudinal Study (U.S. Department of Education, 2002).

Controls• Child Hyperactivity/Inattention w Child Behaviour Checklist (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1981)• Child Physical aggression-opposition w Child Behaviour Checklist (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1981)• Child sex w PMK sex, age, ethnicity, education and employment w Spouse education and employment w Household size

w Family structure w Income level (LICO).

Outcomes• Number Competence w In-person standardized assessment; Number Knowledge test (Griffin & Case, 1997).• Receptive Vocabulary w In-person standardized assessment; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - Revised (PPVT-R;

Dunn & Dunn, 1981).

Measures

Results

Table 2. Hierarchical Regression for Physical Punishment at 2-3 Years Predicting Receptive Vocabulary at 4-5 Years (N = 5,513)

Physical punishment is linked with significantly weaker

receptive vocabulary when explaining/ teaching (calmly discussing problems) is less

frequent.

Discussion

• Results did not support our primary hypothesis, for they suggest that physical punishment (when children are aged 2-3 years) does not independently hinder later school readiness (at 4-5 years), as indexed by children’s receptive vocabulary and number competence. These findings run counter to the majority of past research, both cross-sectional and longitudinal in design, on physical punishment and cognitive/pre-academic skills.

• However, results also suggest that physical punishment was associated with lower school readiness when used within certain disciplinary and parenting contexts, particularly contexts higher in negative practices and lower in positive practices. This moderating effect is important because physical punishment tends to occur more frequently within such a disciplinary context, namely a harsher and more punitive context (Gamez-Guadix et al., 2010; Thompson et al., 1999).

• This study therefore contributes to the ongoing debate about the effectiveness of physical punishment and its acceptability under different circumstances. Our results provide no evidence of positive effects of physical punishment across a range of parenting and disciplinary contexts. As such, it would seem important to focus on promoting parents’ use of positive discipline to better ensure healthy child development and school readiness.

Method (con’t)

Notes. B = unstandardized estimate; SE = standard error; Part r = semipartial correlation. Analyses included all controls listed in the method section.*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001

Table 1. Hierarchical Regression for Physical Punishment at 2-3 Years Predicting Number Competence at 4-5 Years (N = 5,513)

Notes. B = unstandardized estimate; SE = standard error; Part r = semipartial correlation. Analyses included all controls listed in the method section. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001

Parent-reported physical punishment at 2-3 years

did not predict child school readiness (receptive

vocabulary and number competence) at 4-5 years.

However, specific parenting practices

(explaining/teaching, psychological aggression, and learning and literacy activities) moderated the

link between physical punishment and school

readiness outcomes.

80

85

90

95

100

105

110

No Physical Punishment

Physical Punishment

Rec

epti

ve V

ocab

ular

y

Low Explain/Teach (Calmly Discuss)***

High Explain/Teach (Calmly Discuss)

80

85

90

95

100

105

110

No Physical Punishment

Physical Punishment

Rec

epti

ve V

ocab

ular

y

Low Learning & Literacy Activities***

High Learning & Literacy Activities

80

85

90

95

100

105

110

No Physical Punishment

Physical Punishment

Rec

epti

ve V

ocab

ular

y Low Explain/Teach (Describing Alternatives)*

High Explain/Teach (Describing Alternatives)**

85

90

95

100

105

110

115

No Physical Punishment

Physical Punishment

Num

ber

Com

pete

nce Low Psychologial

Aggression (Tells child s/he is bad)

High Psychologial Aggression (Tells child s/he is bad)**

85

90

95

100

105

110

115

No Physical Punishment

Physical Punishment

Num

ber

Com

poet

ence Low Psychological

Aggression (Yelling)

High Psychological Aggression (Yelling)***

Introduction

Research Objectives

1. To examine the influence of physical punishment at 2-3 years on school readiness outcomes at 4-5 years (i.e., receptive vocabulary and number competence)

2. To examine other parenting variables at 2-3 years (specifically, engagement in literacy and learning activities and co-occurring disciplinary strategies) as moderators of the link between physical punishment and school readiness.

Hypotheses

1. We hypothesized that child physical punishment at 2-3 years would be associated with lower school readiness at 4-5 years, after taking into account several socio-demographic, child, and parenting variables.

2. We expected key parenting variables to moderate the links between physical punishment and school readiness outcomes, such that children exposed to physical punishment would have weaker school readiness skills if their caregiver also used negative parenting practices (e.g., psychological aggression) more frequently, or if they engaged in positive practices (e.g., calm discussions about problem behavior) less frequently.

Results (con’t)

Physical punishment is linked with significantly weaker

receptive vocabulary at both high and low frequencies of

explaining/teaching (describing alternatives)

Physical punishment is linked with significantly weaker

receptive vocabulary when learning and literacy

activities are less frequent.

Physical punishment is linked with significantly weaker

number competence when psychological aggression

(telling child s/he is bad) is more frequent.

Physical punishment is linked with significantly weaker

number competence when psychological aggression (yelling) is more frequent.