Ann Marie Halpenny,

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Ann Marie Halpenny, Elizabeth Nixon Dorothy
Watson
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Background and Context

• Links between parental discipline responses,
  child behaviour and children's psychological
  well-being (Smith et al, 2005 Gershoff, 2002
  Parke, 2002 Eisenberg et al, 2001)
• Parenting in changing family contexts
• Diverse family forms
• Work life balance
• Inductive, power-assertive and love-withdrawal
  discipline strategies
• Physical punishment of children definitions and
  prevalence
• Legislative context

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• Study Objectives
• The primary aims of this research are to
• identify the main parenting styles and forms of
  discipline used by parents with children up to 18
  years
• identify extent to which parents use physical
  punishment as a discipline strategy with their
  children
• identify parental attitudes to the legislative
  position in relation to physical punishment and
  children.

Study Design Methods Telephone survey
methodology adopted Interviews with 1,353
parents, with at least one child under 18 years
of age Standardised measures of parenting style,
child behaviour and child temperament
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Sample Profile
Descriptor Percent of Sample (Weighted)
Mothers 54
Fathers 46
Age under 35 years 26
Age 35-44 years 44
Age 45 years and over 29
Married 83
Education less than Leaving Certificate 28
Leaving Certificate 26
Education beyond Leaving Certificate 45
In paid employment 74
Youngest child age 0-4 43
Youngest child age 5-9 25
Youngest child age 10-14 20
Youngest child age 15-17 12
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Survey Questionnaire

• General views on parenting in Ireland
• Attitudes toward physical punishment and contexts
  in which it occurs
• Details of household and randomly selected child
• Parenting styles
• Discipline strategies experienced by parents in
  their childhood
• Discipline strategies adopted by parents with
  child in past year
• Physical punishment
• Attitudes toward legislation on the use of
  physical punishment
• Demographic background of the respondent

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Perceived Pressures on Parents
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Key Findings on Parental Use of Discipline
Strategies

• Non-aggressive discipline strategies
• ? e.g. Discussed issue calmly, time out,
  grounding child
• Psychologically aggressive discipline strategies
• ? e.g. Refuse to talk to child, shout or yell,
  threaten to smack or hit child
• Physical punishment
• ? e.g. Smack or slap child, hit child with
  instrument, shake, push or grab child

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Non-Aggressive Discipline Strategies
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Non-Aggressive Discipline Strategies

• Time-out ? more likely to be used with children
  in middle childhood (aged 5-9 years) and less
  likely to be used by parents in the oldest age
  category (45 years and over)
• Grounding ? more likely to be used with children
  in early adolescence (aged 10-14 years) and more
  likely to be used by parents aged between 35 and
  44
• Fathers ? less likely than mothers to threaten to
  tell someone else as a discipline response.
•  

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Psychologically-Aggressive Discipline Strategies
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Psychologically-Aggressive Discipline Strategies

• Threatening to smack a child ? more likely to be
  used with children in middle childhood (aged 5-9
  years) and less likely to be used by parents in
  the oldest age category (45 years and over)
• Calling a child stupid or lazy ? more likely to
  be used with older adolescents (aged 15-17 years)
• Fathers ? less likely than mothers to walk out
  (of the room or house) on a child as a response
  to a disciplinary incident.

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Parental Use of Physical Punishment
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Parental Use of Physical Punishment
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Parental Use of Any Physical Punishment in Past
Year
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Parental Use of Any Physical Punishment in Past
Year Comparison with UK Figures
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Key Factors Associated with Higher Incidence of
Physical Punishment

• Parents with children aged 2-9 years ? more
  likely to slap children in response to child
  misbehaviour
• Parents in the youngest age category (under 35) ?
  more likely to slap a child on the bottom, hands,
  arms or legs than parents in other age groups
• Parents whose children had hyperactivity and/or
  conduct difficulties (as measured by the SDQ) ?
  more likely to have used physical punishment in
  the past year
• Parents who, during their own childhood had been
  smacked and parents who had been hit with an
  instrument (such as a slipper or hairbrush) ?
  more likely to have used physical punishment with
  their children in the past year.
•  

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Key Findings on Attitudes to Physical Punishment
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Key Findings on Attitudes to Physical Punishment
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Key Findings on Attitudes to Physical Punishment

• Perceived effectiveness of physical punishment
• Achieving immediate compliance
• Preventing future misbehaviour
• Rationales for using physical punishment
• Stop child doing something dangerous
• Stop bad behaviour quickly
• Underline seriousness of childs behaviour
• Contexts in which physical punishment likely to
  occur
• Repeated child defiance or aggression
• Situational factors

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Rationales for Using Physical Punishment
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Key Findings on Attitudes to Legislation on
Physical Punishment

• Parental awareness of current status of law on
  physical punishment in Ireland
• Parental awareness of proposed changes to law on
  physical punishment in Ireland
• Parental attitudes to banning physical punishment
  with children

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Parental Attitudes to Banning Physical Punishment
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Parental Attitudes to Banning Physical Punishment
- Comparison with UK Studies
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Conclusions

• Non-aggressive discipline strategies most
  prevalent among Irish parents
• Incidence of physical punishment among parents in
  Ireland is low compared to similar UK-based
  studies
• Ambivalence evident in parental attitudes to the
  use of physical punishment with children
• Discipline strategies need to be considered in
  the broader context of parenting and the
  specifics of the disciplinary incident
• Physical punishment often used as an adjunct,
  rather than as an alternative, to other
  discipline strategies
• Parents did not widely endorse legal prohibition
  of physical punishment