Did you read the whole study, LaVonne?

"One limitation of this study is that the sampled countries differ along a
number of dimensions that are not reflected specifically in the analyses,
even though country-level effects were modeled in the multilevel
regressions. One dimension is the culture's predominant religious
affiliation, which has been found to be importantly related to parents'
discipline strategies even within the United States (e.g., Gershoff et
al., 1999). A second dimension is notable laws involving family life
(e.g., the one-child policy in China). A third dimension is socioeconomic
resources available in a culture. A fourth dimension is other cultural
norms that are distinct from, yet related to, physical discipline (e.g.,
views about children as property, beliefs about aggression generally, how
parenting fits with religious beliefs). These dimensions may affect how
normative parents within a country believe physical discipline to be. It
is also possible that these dimensions are related to parents' use of
physical discipline without being related to the links between parents'
use of physical discipline and children's adjustment. Future research
should attempt to unpack these elements to investigate what, in
particular, are the important cultural features that are related to
differences in discipline strategies and the effects of these strategies
on children's adjustment. Future research should also examine different
aspects of children's experience of discipline such as the duration of the
discipline and its severity."

Doan

On Thu, 9 Feb 2006, Carlson LaVonne wrote:

A ground-breaking study examined whether the normativeness of physical
discipline moderates the link between mothers' use of physical
discipline and children's adjustment. The sample included 336
mother-child dyads from China, India, Italy, Kenya, the Philippines, and
Thailand.

Results revealed that "physical discipline was less strongly associated
with adverse child outcomes in conditions of greater perceived
normativeness, but physical discipline was also associated with more
adverse outcomes regardless of the perceived normativeness. Countries
with the lowest use of physical disciplined showed the strongest
association between mother's use and children's behavior problems, but
in all countries, higher use of physical discipline was associated with
more aggression and anxiety." (Lansford, et.al. 2005, 1234)

This is interesting because culture and what is considered the norm is
so often used as a justifier for physical discipline. This study
clearly shows that while the adverse effects of physical disipline were
less in countries where it was considered the norm, it was still
associated with adverse outcomes for children, including more anxiety
and aggresstion.

So I ask again -- why use physical discipline when yet another study
finds it to be harmful to children?

LaVonne

Reference:

Lansford, J., Dodge, K. & Malone, P., Bacchini, D., Zelli, A.,
Chaudhary, N., Manke, B., Chang, L., Oburu, P., Palmerus, K.,
Pastorelli, C., Bombi, A., Tapanya, S., Deater-Deckard, K., & Quinn, N.
(2005). Physical Discipline and Children's Adjustment: Cultural
Normativeness as a Moderator. Child Development, November/December
2005. 76(6), 1234-1246.