Troubles in Interracial Talk About Discipline: An Examination of African American Child Rearing Narratives

• Published in: Journal of comparative family studies 1999-07, Vol.30 (3), p.489-521
• Main Authors: MOSBY, LYNETTA, RAWLS, ANNE WARFIELD, MEEHAN, ALBERT J., MAYS, EDWARD, PETTINARI, CATHERINE JOHNSON
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African American culture; African Americans; Black American people; Black communities; Black Community; Black culture; Child abuse; Child abuse & neglect; Child discipline; Child rearing; Childrearing Practices; Children & youth; Corporal Punishment; Cultural Sensitivity; Cultural Transmission; Discipline; Narratives; Older adults; Parent Child Relations; Parent Training; Parents; Parents & parenting; Racial differences; Social conditions; Social Services; Social Work
• ISSN: 0047-2328; 1929-9850
• DOI: 10.3138/jcfs.30.3.489

The preference of African American parents for physical discipline is noted frequently in the literature, and it is suggested that this preference is responsible for the over representation of black children in foster care. Our research has found that African American parents in a social service intervention program clearly express this preference to their social workers, thereby further jeopardizing their chances of being judged fit parents. Studies of African American parenting styles show that there is a preference for physical discipline in combination with loving verbal reinforcement. This preference seems to represent a deep-seated set of cultural beliefs that cross many generations in the African American community. In spite of the importance of these claims, however, and the apparent cultural character of the preferences, there are relatively few studies of the African American use of physical discipline and none that report on the preference in any detail. This paper examines extended narrative accounts of why physical punishment is a preferred form of discipline in the African American community and how it is ideally to be used. Because the preference for physical discipline is thought to be a deep seated cultural form, and culture is often conveyed through narrative, we have paid careful attention to narrative in examining this preference. On constate fréquemment dans la documentation une préférence marquée de la part des parents noirs américains pour la discipline corporelle. Certains supposent que cette préférence est responsable de la surabondance des enfants noirs dans des families adoptives. Notre recherche nous mène à croire que les parents noirs américains faisant partie des programmes de services sociaux d'intervention expriment nettement à leurs assistants sociaux cette préférence. Ceci compromet encore plus leur possibilité d'être jugés comme parents compétents. Les études sur les différentes manières d'élever les enfants démontrent que les parents noirs américains préfèrent la punition corporelle combinée avec la rétroaction verbale affectueuse. Cette préférence semble représenter un ensemble de convictions culturelles profondément enracinées depuis des générations. Néanmoins, en dépit de l'importance de ces conclusions et la nature apparemment culturelle de ces préférences, il y a très peu d'études sur l'utilisation de la discipline corporelle par les parents noirs américains et aucune qui examine cette préférence dans les moindres d