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Early parental physical punishment and emotional and behavioural outcomes in preschool children
Author(s) -
Scott S.,
Lewsey J.,
Thompson L.,
Wilson P.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1111/cch.12061
Subject(s) - strengths and difficulties questionnaire , socioeconomic status , psychology , confidence interval , sibling , ethnic group , mental health , odds ratio , cohort , medicine , demography , pediatrics , developmental psychology , psychiatry , population , pathology , sociology , anthropology , environmental health
Objective To determine whether there is an association between being smacked by your main caregiver in the first two years and emotional and behavioural problems at age four. Methods Design: Secondary analysis of data from the G rowing U p in S cotland P rospective S tudy ( GUS ). Setting: S cotland, UK . Participants: GUS birth cohort children, whose main caregiver had no concerns about their behaviour at 22 months. Exposure: Ever smacked by main caregiver in first 22 months, as measured by caregiver self‐report at 22 months. Main Outcome: Emotional and behavioural problems as measured by parental assessment and the S trengths and D ifficulties Q uestionnaire ( SDQ ) at 46 months. Results Preschool children exposed to main caregiver smacking in the first two years were twice as likely to have emotional and behavioural problems as measured by parental assessment [odds ratio ( OR ) 2.5, 95% confidence interval ( CI ) 1.9–3.2; absolute risk reduction ( ARR ) 17.8%, 95% CI 12.1–23.5] and SDQ ( OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.7–3.7; ARR 7.5%, 95% CI 3.7–11.5), as children never smacked by their main caregiver. The association remained significant after adjusting for child age and sex, caregiver age, sex, ethnicity, educational attainment and mental health status, sibling number, structural family transitions and socioeconomic status (adj. OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.8–3.2 for parental assessment and adj. OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.4–3.5 for SDQ ). Conclusions Parental use of physical punishment in the first two years may be a modifiable risk factor for emotional and behavioural difficulties in preschool children.