Spanking and ethnic differences - Lansford Study

Ethnic differences in the link between physical discipline and later
adolescent externalizing behaviors

Jennifer E. Lansford, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Kenneth A. Dodge,
John E. Bates, and Gregory S. Pettit

Duke University, USA; University of Oregon, USA; Indiana University, USA;
Auburn University, USA

Background: Parents use of physical discipline has generated controversy
related to concerns that its use is associated with adjustment problems
such as aggression and delinquency in children. However, recent evidence
suggests that there are ethnic differences in associations between
physical discipline and children.s adjustment. This study examined race as
a moderator of the link between physical discipline and adolescent
externalizing behavior problems, extending previous research beyond childhood
into adolescence and considering physical discipline at multiple points in
time.

Methods:
A representative community sample of 585 children was followed from
pre-kindergarten (age 5) through grade 11 (age 16). Mothers reported on
their use of physical discipline in the child.s first five years of life
and again during grades 6 (age 11) and 8 (age 13). Mothers and adolescents
reported on a variety of externalizing behaviors in grade 11 including
aggression, violence, and trouble at school and with the police.

Results: A series of hierarchical linear regressions controlling for
parents marital status, socioeconomic status, and child temperament
revealed significant interactions between physical discipline
during the child.s first five years of life and race in the prediction of
3 of the 7 adolescent externalizing outcomes assessed and significant
interactions between physical discipline during grades 6 and 8 and race in
the prediction of all 7 adolescent externalizing outcomes. Regression
slopes showed that the experience of physical discipline at each time
point was related to higher levels of subsequent
externalizing behaviors for European American adolescents but lower levels
of externalizing behaviors for African American adolescents.

Conclusions: There are race differences in long-term effects of
physical discipline on externalizing behaviors problems. Different
ecological niches may affect the
manner in which parents use physical discipline, the meaning that children
attach to the experience of
physical discipline, and its effects on the adjustment of children and
adolescents.

Keywords: Physical discipline, externalizing behaviors, ethnic
differences.

SOURCES: Lansford, J. Child Development, November/December 2005; vol 76:
pp 1234-1246. Jennifer Lansford, PhD, research scientist, Center for Child
and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, N.C. . Eric P. Slade, PhD,
associate professor of psychiatry, University of Maryland.

Doan