An Initial Evaluation of the Role of Emotion and Impulsivity in Explaining Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Use of Corporal Punishment

• Published in: Developmental psychology 2011-11, Vol.47 (6), p.1744-1749
• Main Authors: Lorber, Michael F., O'Leary, Susan G., Smith Slep, Amy M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African Americans - psychology; Attitude; Biological and medical sciences; Black American people; Black People; Blacks; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Comparative Analysis; Conceptual Tempo; Conflict; Corporal punishment; Correlation; Couple and family; Cultural differences; Depression - epidemiology; Depression - ethnology; Emotional Response; Emotions; Emotions - physiology; Ethnic Groups - psychology; Ethnicity; European Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Fathers; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic Americans - psychology; Human; Humans; Impulsive Behavior - ethnology; Impulsive Behavior - psychology; Impulsiveness; Impulsivity; Latinos/Latinas; Male; Mothers; Parent Child Relationship; Parent-Child Relations; Parenting Style; Parenting Styles; Parents; Parents & parenting; Prediction; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychological Patterns; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Punishment; Punishment - psychology; Questionnaires; Racial and Ethnic Differences; Racial Differences; Role; Social Behavior; Social psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Task Analysis; White People; Whites; Young Children
• ISSN: 0012-1649; 1939-0599
• DOI: 10.1037/a0025344

The authors sought to provide an initial evaluation of the hypothesis that corporal punishment is less strongly associated with parental emotion and impulsivity among African American ("Black") in contrast to European American ("White") parents. White-Latino and Black-Latino differences in corporal punishment, emotion, and impulsivity were explored, given the lack of existing theory predicting group differences. Couples with 3- to 7-year-old children were recruited via random digit dialing, and the parents completed questionnaires and an analog parent-child conflict task in the laboratory. Group differences were tested pooling mothers and fathers via dyadic data analyses. Black parents (N = 57) had more positive attitudes toward and used more corporal punishment than White parents (N = 730). Latino American parents' (N = 78) views and use of corporal punishment were similar to those of White parents. By and large, associations of corporal punishment with parents' impulsivity and emotion did not significantly vary by race/ethnicity. The present findings, although preliminary, do not support the emotion-impulsivity hypothesis of racial differences in the use of corporal punishment suggested by K. Deater-Deckard, K. A. Dodge, J. E. Bates, and G. S. Pettit (1996).