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Attitudes towards and the practice of discipline amongst parents of pre‐school children in Nottingham
Author(s) -
Thompson Anne E,
Pearce John B
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1002/chi.653
Subject(s) - quarter (canadian coin) , sample (material) , psychology , punishment (psychology) , child discipline , face (sociological concept) , developmental psychology , social psychology , medicine , human factors and ergonomics , sociology , poison control , social science , chemistry , archaeology , chromatography , history , environmental health
This study investigates parents' attitudes towards the disciplining of young children, and compares their beliefs about discipline to their actual practice of behaviour management. Data have been collected from a sample of parents whose children are attending Nottinghamshire nursery schools using self‐report questionnaires. Only one quarter of respondents agree that smacking is the appropriate way to handle the unsafe behaviour of a three year old child, and many of the sample recognise that parents who smack their children may face repercussions from social services and the courts. However almost two thirds of the sample had smacked their pre‐school child in the past week. Parents who endorse the use of non‐coercive management techniques smack their children as well. These results suggest that initiatives to promote positive discipline may not be sufficient in themselves to reduce the physical punishment of children. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.