Elizabeth Thompson Gershoff

Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: a meta-analytic and theoretical review.

Although the merits of parents using corporal punishment to discipline children have been argued for decades, a thorough understanding of whether and how corporal punishment affects children has not been reached. Toward this end, the author first presents the results of meta-analyses of the association between parental corporal punishment and 11 child behaviors and experiences. Parental corporal punishment was associated with all child constructs, including higher levels of immediate compliance and aggression and lower levels of moral internalization and mental health. The author then presents a process-context model to explain how parental corporal punishment might cause particular child outcomes and considers alternative explanations. The article concludes by identifying 7 major remaining issues for future research.

Mothers' emotional expressivity and children's behavior problems and social competence: mediation through children's regulation.

The relations between mothers expressed positive and negative emotion and 55-79-month-olds (76% European American) regulation, social competence, and adjustment were examined. Structural equation modeling was used to test the plausibility of the hypothesis that the effects of maternal expression of emotion on childrens adjustment and social competence are mediated through childrens dispositional regulation. Mothers expressed emotions were assessed during interactions with their children and with maternal reports of emotions expressed in the family. Childrens regulation, externalizing and internalizing problems. and social competence were rated by parents and teachers, and childrens persistence was surreptitiously observed. There were unique effects of positive and negative maternal expressed emotion on childrens regulation. and the relations of maternal expressed emotion to childrens externalizing problem behaviors and social competence were mediated through childrens regulation. Alternative models of causation were tested; a child-directed model in which maternal expressivity mediated the effects of child regulation on child outcomes did not fit the data as well.

The affective structure of supportive parenting: depressive symptoms, immediate emotions, and child-oriented motivation.

This study investigated the maternal concerns and emotions that may regulate one form of sensitive parenting, support for childrens immediate desires or intentions. While reviewing a videotape of interactions with their 1-year-olds, mothers who varied on depressive symptoms reported concerns and emotions they had during the interaction. Emotions reflected outcomes either to children (child-oriented concerns) or to mothers themselves (parent-oriented concerns). Child-oriented concerns were associated with fewer negative emotions and more supportive behavior. Supportive parenting was high among mothers who experienced high joy and worry and low anger, sadness, and guilt. However, relations depended on whether emotions were child or parent oriented: Supportive behavior occurred more when emotions were child oriented. In addition, as depressive symptoms increased, mothers reported fewer child-oriented concerns, fewer child-oriented positive emotions, and more parent-oriented negative emotions. They also displayed less supportive behavior. Findings suggest that support for childrens immediate intentions may be regulated by parents concerns, immediate emotions, and depressive symptoms.

Parenting influences from the pulpit: Religious affiliation as a determinant of parental corporal punishment.

This study examined religious affiliation as a source of differences in beliefs about and reported use of corporal punishment by 132 mothers and fathers of 3-year-old children. Conservative Protestants reported using corporal punishment more than parents of other religious groups, but no religious differences were found in parents reported use of 8 other disciplinary techniques. Conservative Protestants belief in the instrumental benefits of corporal punishment was associated with their frequency of corporal punishment use. More than parents of other religious affiliations, Conservative Protestants intended to use corporal punishment for childrens moral, social, prudential, and escalated misbehaviors and expected it to prevent future transgressions. Religious affiliation, particularly a Conservative Protestant one, appears to have a strong and consistent effect on child rearing.

The relation of parental emotionality and related dispositional traits to parental expression of emotion and children's social functioning

The purpose of this study was to test relations between parental temperamental emotionality and regulation or related personality characteristics and parental behavior, childrens regulation, and childrens social functioning. Mothers and fathers reported on their own personality and/or temperament and expressivity in the family (mothers only); parents and teachers rated children (71 girls and 99 boys; M age = 73 months) on their temperamental regulation, social competence, and problem behavior. Mothers also were observed interacting with their child, and behavioral measures of childrens regulation were obtained. In general, high parental regulation and low negative emotionality were associated with positive developmental outcomes in children and more positive parental behaviors, and mothers expression of positive emotion in the family mediated some of the relations of their dispositions to childrens socioemotional functioning.

Assessing the impact of September 11th, 2001, on children, youth, and parents: methodological challenges to research on terrorism and other nonnormative events

It is difficult to overstate the magnitude of the tragedy of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. Attacks on civilians at a national symbol and center of commerce, the World Trade Center as well as on noncombat military personnel at the nations defense headquarters, the Pentagon were viewed by citizens across the country as broad attacks on the United States. Extensive television, radio, print, and Internet coverage of the attacks, both as they unfolded in real time and in the weeks and months following, meant that individuals throughout the country were exposed at some level to the attacks. Therefore, although direct exposure to the attacks was restricted to New York City, Washington, DC, and Somerset County, Pennsylvania, individuals throughout the United States were, and in many cases still are, profoundly affected by the events of that day. Because of the attacks on September 11th, 2001, the United States has experienced many changes in the intervening 3 years, including the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the implementation of increased security measures and surveillance. The implications of each of these changes on public safety, civil liberties, and international relations are widespread and far reaching. The article focuses on the difficulties associated with doing research on terrorism.

Hand preferences in sign-learning students with autistic disorder

The purpose of the study was fourfold: (a) to document the hand preferences of nonspeaking individuals with autism as they produced signs and nonsign actions; (b) to find out if sign-language proficiency in such individuals is associated with directionality or consistency of signing hand preference; (c) to explore the link between hand preference for signing and standardised measures of cognitive and motor development; (d) to compare the hand preferences (sign and nonsign actions) of such individuals to sign-learning children with normal cognitive functioning. In this study, the hand preferences of 14 nonspeaking students with autistic disorder were determined from videotape records of their sign production and nonsign actions. In their sign production, four students strongly favoured their right hands, four had a distinct left-hand preference, and six did not significantly favour either hand. There was little evidence linking sign-language proficiency, cognitive maturity, or motor development to strongly lateralised signing or handedness in general in these students. Compared with the hand preferences of the children in the two comparison groups, the autistic students were markedly less lateralised with respect to signing, but not nonsign actions.

Editors' Conclusion: Child, Youth, and Parent Responses to the Terrorism of September 11, 2001--Implications for Applied Developmental Science and Practice.

The editorial discusses child, youth, and parent responses to the terrorism of September 11, 2001 and its implications for applied developmental science and practice. We have learned that the events of September 11th have affected a range of outcomes; not just posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but other mental health outcomes. There are also several indications of stage-specific developmental responses to the events of September 11th. Adolescents and adults found different types of coping strategies helpful. Effective mental health interventions will need to target developmentally appropriate programs at different ages of children and youths. In light of this reality, it is valuable for science policy agencies to continue to improve their capacity to identify and support the expansion of studies already in the field in areas of disaster as well as to contract with research centers that can prepare in advance to rapidly field new studies. Just as it is helpful to turn to the broader disaster literature to provide context for understanding the empirical findings on the effects of the events of September 11th on children, youths, and parents, so too is the broader literature helpful in thinking through the implications of these studies for mounting program and policy responses.

Changing Children's Trajectories of Development: Two-Year Evidence for the Effectiveness of a School-Based Approach to Violence Prevention

Awareness of youth violence has increased in recent years, resulting in more interest in programs that can prevent violent and aggressive behavior. Although overall rates of violence among young people have declined since the mid-1990s, rates of some forms of youth aggression, violence, and crime remain high. National data reveal that, each year, about 15 percent of high school students are involved in a physical fight at school and 8 percent are threatened or injured with a weapon. Urban youth are at particular risk for exposure to violence and victimization.

No Longer Up for Debate: Physical Punishment Causes Negative Outcomes for Children

A large body of research consistently links parents’ use of physical punishment, including spanking, to harm to their children. This finding holds up across populations, settings, and cohorts. But because it is unethical to conduct randomized controlled trials to study the effects of physical punishment, some critics still debate whether there is a causal link between physical punishment and harm to children. In this brief, the authors, led by PRC faculty research associate Liz Gershoff, find that the research on physical punishment meets five standard criteria for drawing causal conclusions. The message to policymakers, psychologists, and parents is clear: it is time to implement multiple strategies to end this outdated parenting practice.