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Journal of Marriage and Family.
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VONNIE C. MCLOYD AND JULIA SMITH
Universityof Michigan
PhysicalDisciplineandBehaviorProblemsin African
American,EuropeanAmerican,andHispanicChildren:
EmotionalSupportas a Moderator
Using data collected over a 6-year period on a Surveys indicate that the majorityof American
sampleof 1,039 EuropeanAmericanchildren,550 parentsendorsecorporalpunishmentas a child-
African American children, and 401 Hispanic rearingpracticeand use it to disciplinetheirchil-
childrenfrom the childrenof the National Lon- dren (Day, Peterson,& McCracken,1998; Gils-
gitudinal Survey of Youth, this study assessed Sims, Straus,& Sugarman,1995;Straus& Gelles,
whethermaternalemotionalsupportof the child 1986). Corporalpunishmentvaries in intensity
moderatesthe relationbetweenspankingand be- from spanking,typically defined as strikingthe
haviorproblems.Childrenwere 4-5 years of age child on the buttocksor extremitieswith an open
in thefirst of 4 waves of data used (1988, 1990, handwithoutinflictingphysicalinjury,to physical
1992, 1994).At each wave,mothersreportedtheir abuse, consistingof beatingsand otherforms of
use of spankingand ratedtheirchildren'sbehav- extremephysical force that inflict bodily injury.
ior problems.Maternalemotionalsupportof the Whereas spanking falls within the normative
child was based on interviewerobservationscon- rangeof socializationpracticeswithinthe United
ductedas part of the Home Observation for Mea- States,physicalabusedoes not (Baumrind,1997).
surementof the Environment.For each of the 3 Several studies have found that parentaluse of
racial-ethnicgroups, spankingpredicted an in- physicaldisciplineis positivelyrelatedto behav-
crease in the level of problembehaviorover time, ioral (e.g., aggression) and psychological (e.g.,
controllingfor income-needsratio and maternal dysphoria,low self-esteem)problemsin children
emotional support.Maternal emotional support and adolescents,but these relationsare markedly
moderatedthe linkbetweenspankingandproblem strongerin samplesof clinically aggressivechil-
behavior. Spankingwas associated with an in- dren (where frequencyand intensityof physical
crease in behaviorproblemsover timein the con- discipline tend to be higher than in nonclinical
text of low levels of emotionalsupport,but not in samples)and samplesof childrenwho have been
the context of high levels of emotionalsupport. physically abused (Dodge, Pettit, Bates, & Val-
Thispatternheldfor all 3 racial-ethnicgroups. ente, 1995; Loeber & Stouthamer-Loeber, 1986;
Strassberg,Dodge, Pettit,& Bates, 1994; Straus,
Centerfor HumanGrowthand Development, University of Sugarman,& Gils-Sims, 1997).
Michigan, 300 North Ingalls, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Given its high prevalencein the UnitedStates,
(vcmcloyd@umich.edu). it is clearthatphysicaldisciplineshortof physical
Key Words:behaviorproblems, emotional support,ethnic- abuse occurs within the context of a diversityof
ity, physical discipline. parentingstyles and behaviors.Consequently,ad-
child once. Neitherof these groupshad any moth- kissed, or hugged child during visit; conveyed
ers who were observedhittingtheir child during positive feeling about child; answered child's
the interview. At the next level (coded 2) are questionsor requestsverbally;encouragedchild
motherswho reportedspankingmore than once to contributeto the conversation).The scale was
but who were not observedhittingtheirchild dur- internallystandardizedby NLSY to be compara-
ing the interview.At the top level (coded 3) are ble acrosstime as the child aged.
motherswho reportedspankingmore than once As was done with amount of spanking,the
and were observedhitting their child duringthe 1988 emotionalsupportscale was used as a cov-
interview.Foreach of the subsequentyears(1990, ariatefor the baselinebehaviorproblemlevel. In
1992, 1994), amountof spankingreportedis as- addition, we constructed(using HLM analysis
sessed as a three-levelordinalscale (i.e., childnot with emotionalsupportas the outcome) an esti-
spanked, spanked once, or spanked more than mate for each child of the overall averageemo-
once duringweek). tional supportover the 6 years,and the changein
The 1988 measureof spankingis used in our supportexperiencedby thatchild over the 6 years
examination of spanking-relateddifferences in of the study.For example,one child pulled from
problembehaviorduringthe base year.However, the samplehad a comparativelyhigh overalllevel
to capturethe impact of spankingon change in of emotionalsupportover the 6 years (Average
behaviorproblemsover time, we use hierarchical Support= 1.62 SD) and very little change over
linearmodeling(HLM)techniques,with spanking thattime (Change= 0.02 SD). Anotherchild had
as the outcome, to create two measuresof the an averagelevel of supportacrossthe 6 years(Av-
"spankingenvironment"of the child. One mea- erage Support= 0.05 SD), but it droppedsub-
sure,the Baysianestimateof the overallintercept, stantiallyover thattime (Change= -1.2 SD).
measures the average amount the child was
spankedper week, experiencedover 6 years.For Controls.Becauseof genderdifferencesin behav-
example, one child might have been spankedan ior problems,genderis taken into accountin all
average of once a week, anotherfour times a
analyses. Similarly,althoughthe sample cohort
week, anothernot at all. The secondmeasure,the was initially selected within a limited age span,
Baysian estimate of the slope, estimates the differencescould still emerge related to age in
changein spankingexperiencedas the child aged. months.Thusage (in months)was also controlled
For example, if a child was spankedmore at 4
in all initialanalyses.However,unlikegender,age
yearsof age thanat 10 yearsof age, this measure was not a significantpredictorin any analysisand
wouldbe negative,whereasif a childwas spanked
more as he or she got older,this measurewould was subsequentlydroppedfromthe finalanalyses.
be positive. If the amountof spankingstayedthe Controlsalso were introducedfor family in-
same over 6 years, this measurewould have a come. We derivedan income-to-needsratioby di-
value of 0. These two measuresare used as pre- viding the family's total income by the official
dictorsin examiningthe changein behaviorprob- povertythresholdfor thatyear.(Thepovertylevel
lems over the 6 years studied.This use of HLM for each child comes from NLSY and is drawn
to create child-level measuresreduces the auto- from the federal level declaredfor that year ad-
correlation and error misestimationassociated justedfor family size.) This ratioestimatesfamily
with simple averages. A full descriptionof the incomein a metricthattakespovertyas its critical
method can be found in Bryk and Raudenbush referent.For example,a ratio of 1 indicatesthat
(1992). the family'sincomeis exactlyat the povertylevel
for that year, whereasa ratio of 2 indicatesthat
Emotionalsupport.The measureof maternalemo- the family has income twice that of the poverty
tional supportis based on five items from the threshold.As was done with amountof spanking,
Home Observationfor Measurementof the En- the 1988 income-needsratio was used as a cov-
vironment(HOME;Caldwell & Bradley, 1980). ariate for the baseline behavior problem level.
The HOMEobservationswere conductedduring Similarly,to capturethe family's economicwell-
interviewervisits in each year of the study.The being over the 6-year period of the study, HLM
items concern the amountof warmthand emo- was used to providean estimatefor both the av-
tional supportdisplayedtowardthe child by the erage level of the income-to-needsratioover this
motherover the course of the observationas as- period and the change in income-to-needsratio
sessed by the interviewer(e.g., mothercaressed, experiencedby familiesduringthis time.
44 Journal of Marriage and Family
African European
Variable Hispanic American American
1988 levels
Amount spanked (M) .69a .91b .65a
Percentagenot spanked 48a 36b 49a
Percentage spanked once last week, not observed hit 24 26 28
Percentage spanked more than once last week, not observed hit 19a 27b 14a
Percentage spanked more than once last week, observed hit 10 11 10
Family income-needs ratio (M) 1.74, 1.48b 2.18c
Maternalemotional supportscale (M) 87.5, 76.6b 90.3,
1988-1994 average levels
Amount of spanking per week (A) .58, .97b .50,
Family income-needs ratio (M) 1.96a 1.49b 2.37c
Maternalemotional supportscale (M) 103.6a 93.1b 107.7a
1988-1994 change in levels
Change in spanking (M) -.12, -.25b -.09a
Percentage whose amount of spanking declined 24a 41b 17c
Percentagewhose amount of spanking increased 24, 18, 44b
Percentagewhose amount did not change 52, 41b 39b
Change in family income-needs ratio (M) .17, -.05b .16
Percentagewho stayed in poverty 23a 35b 10c
Percentagewho droppedinto poverty 9a 11a 5b
Percentage who rose out of poverty 13a 12, 7b
Percentagenever in poverty 55a 42b 78c
Change in maternalemotional supportscale (M) 14.1 15.5 13.6
Percentagewhose supportdecreased 23 22 18
Percentage whose supportincreased 47 48 51
Percentagewhose supportstayed constant 30 30 31
Note: Values with unique subscriptsare significantlydifferent,p < .001.
TABLE 3. HIERARCHICAL LINEAR MODEL RESULTS ON THE NET IMPACT OF BEING HIT ON CHANGE IN BEHAVIOR
PROBLEMS FOR EACH RACIAL-ETHNIC GROUP
aSignificanteffect within racial-ethnicgroup,p < .001. bSignificanteffect within pooled sample, p < .001.
FIGURE 1. IMPACT OF AMOUNT AND CHANGE IN SPANKING ON CHANGE IN BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS FROM 1988 TO 1994
FOR POOLED SAMPLE OF CHILDREN
16 16
14 14
E
a
6
12 Ix 12 10
91 L
3.
10 10
0
m
8 o. 8
lu
.'I
6 6
m
(m
C)
.e -
I..
0
4 4. 4
'Z
2
Q
2 _- -
lu
n . I - -. .
..
-2 -2
1988 1990 1992 1994 1988 1990 1992 1994
Year Year
TABLE 4. HIERARCHICAL
LINEARMODEL RESULTSON THE PREDICTORSOF GROWTHDIFFERENCES
IN BEHAVIOR
PROBLEMSOVER TIME FOR EACH RACIAL-ETHNICGROUP
spankedonce a week or less in 1988 (about25% group-namely, those of being spanked,the in-
of the overall sample).Note that the middle line come-needsratio for the relevantyears, and the
in both panelsis the same group.The comparison level of emotionalsupportin each relevantyear.
in the secondpanel shows that,in additionto the Each columnis a separateand independentsam-
increasein behaviorproblemsexperiencedby all ple, andthe main-effectsHLMmodelis runiden-
childrenat this level, thereis addedan impacton tically on each racial-ethnicgroup,as well as on
behaviorproblemsrelatedto changein amountof the pooled sample. Hence, it is appropriateto
spanking.Comparedto childrenfor whom spank- compareeffects within groups as well as to ex-
ing remainedconstantoverthe 6-yearperiod,chil- aminebetween-groupdifferencesin boththe basic
dren who experienceda decrease in amountof curve and the factorsinfluencingchangefor each
spankingover time have a smallerincreasein be- group.We discusseach set of findingsseparately,
haviorproblems,whereasthose who experienced althoughall are analyzedsimultaneously.We ex-
an increasein amountof spankinghave a greater plored the possibilitythat each of the home en-
increasein behaviorproblems. vironmentmeasuresmight interactwith one or
Three criticalconclusionscan be drawnfrom more of the spankingmeasures.However,only
these results.First,childrenwho experiencemore one interaction-thatbetweenthe averagelevel of
spankingon average have a greaterincrease in emotional support and the average amount of
behaviorproblemsover time. Second, when the
spanking from 1988 to 1994-was significant.
amountof spankingexperienceddecreasesas the This is the only interactionleft in the finalmodel.
child ages, the impacton the growthof behavior It is discussedin the section concerningthe im-
problems is blunted, whereas an increasing pact of emotionalsupportiveness.
amount of spanking appears to accelerate the
growthof behaviorproblems.Finally,whenlook- Adjustedimpactof spankingon change in behav-
ing at the net impact of spankingon the devel- ior problems. Because the behavior composite
opmentof behaviorproblems,thereare no differ- was centeredto each group's1988 mean, the in-
ences relatedto race-ethnicity.The impactis the
same acrossall groups. terceptin this main-effectmodelcan be interpret-
ed as the averagedeviationfrom the groupmean
in 1988 behavior problems observed for male
CombinedEffectsof Spankingand Home childrenwho reportedlywere not hit in 1988 and
Environmenton BehaviorProblems have an average1988 income-needsratioandlev-
Table4 shows all of the main effects exploredin el of emotionalsupport.Of the threegroups,Af-
the HLManalysisseparatelyfor eachracial-ethnic ricanAmericanchildrenhave the lowest adjusted
Physical Discipline 49
IM
ck
B
0
o
jcL.
.Cu
a
o
1p
- Incomedropped
-- Income stayed same
~- Income rose
portive(1 or more SDs below average)and high- Strauset al., 1997), the presentstudy found that
supportive(1 or more SDs above average)home spankingpredictedincreasesin problembehavior
environments.Amongchildrenwith low levels of over the 6-yearperiodaftercontrollingfor gender,
emotionalsupport,both groupshave a high level income-needratio, and maternalemotionalsup-
of problems,and those getting spankedhave a port. Although African American children as
greaterincreasein behaviorproblems.Although comparedto EuropeanAmericanand Hispanic
the patternis the same for all three groups, the childrenwere morelikely to be spankedandwere
relationbetweenspankingand increasein behav- spankedmore frequently-a findingthat concurs
ior problemsis strongestfor Hispanicchildrenand with earlier studies (Day et al., 1998; Deater-
weakest for EuropeanAmericanchildren.Con- Deckardet al., 1996)-we foundno evidencethat
versely,amongchildrenwith high levels of emo- the relationbetweenspankingand behaviorprob-
tionalsupport,thereis almostno relationbetween lems is relatedto race or ethnicity.In contrastto
spankingand change in behaviorproblemsover the presentfindings,some researchindicatesthat
time.
spankingis predictiveof externalizingproblems
In general,these resultssuggest stronglythat,
among EuropeanAmericanchildren,but not Af-
althoughspankingcan have a negativeimpacton rican Americanchildren(Deater-Deckardet al.,
children'ssocioemotionalfunctioningover time,
1996; Gunnoe & Mariner, 1997). Research is
this effect is moderatedby the emotionalcontext
needed to determineif this patternof conflicting
in which such spankingoccurs. When spanking
occurs in a context of strong overall emotional findingsis due to differencesamongstudiesin the
source of informationaboutthe child's behavior
supportfor the child, it does not appearto con-
tributeto a significantincreasein behaviorprob- problems(e.g., mothers,teachers,peers), in the
lems. However,withoutthis supportin place, be- measureof spanking,or in the extent to which
havior problemstend to increasein responseto analysestake accountof the impactof children's
increasesin spanking. externalizingbehavior on mothers' tendency to
spank(McLeod,Kruttschnitt, & Dornfeld,1994).
The presentfindingsindicatethatthe effects of
DISCUSSION
spankingon problembehaviordependpartlyon
In keepingwith a host of studiesreportingnega- whetherspankingis administeredin the context
tive associationsbetween variousforms of coer- of high emotionalsupportof the child. Our con-
cive control by parentsand socioemotionalad- fidencein the reliabilityof this moderationeffect
justment in children (McCord, 1997; Rohner, is buttressedby the fact that it was replicatedin
Kean,& Cournoyer,1991;Strassberget al., 1994; separateanalysesbased on three differentracial-
Physical Discipline 51
FIGURE 3. INTERACTION BETWEEN AMOUNT OF SPANKING AND HIGH AND LOW MATERNAL SUPPORT ON CHANGE IN
BEHAVIORPROBLEMSOVER TIME
Hispanic Children
Low Maternal Support High Maternal Support
20- 20
-4- Spanked2+/wk
15- 15 -- Not Spanked
CL
&W 10- 10
02
;;o
C9
rr
at 5- 5-
J=
11
A I I iun t i
Q;
N=- MF 0 w
-5- -5
1988 1990 1992 1994 1988 1990 1992 1994
Year Year
African American Children
Low Maternal Support High Maternal Support
20 20-
.-
15 15l
&O
10 10
CrJ
6
a)
09
5 5
A I I i
OI Iin
'i
i I I i
131
04 -5- -- -% ? ca
-5.
1988 1990 1992 1994
1988 1990 1992 1994
Year Year
European American Children
Low Maternal Support High Maternal Support
20' 20-
s4.1
0
15 15'
.0
10 10
0 5 5
?r(
4. I I I I ---
4
AI
IIin
. i^i i. _ i
M-r 0
-5' -5s
1988 1990 1992 1994
1988 1990 1992 1994
Year Year
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