Physical Discipline and Behavior Problems in African American, European American, and

Hispanic Children: Emotional Support as a Moderator

Author(s): Vonnie C. McLoyd and Julia Smith
Source: Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 64, No. 1 (Feb., 2002), pp. 40-53
Published by: National Council on Family RelationsNational Council on Family Relations
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3599775
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 VONNIE
C. MCLOYD ANDJULIASMITH
Universityof Michigan
PhysicalDisciplineandBehaviorProblemsin African
American,European American,andHispanicChildren:
EmotionalSupportas a Moderator
Using data collected over a 6-year period on a
sampleof 1,039 EuropeanAmericanchildren,550
African American children, and 401 Hispanic
childrenfrom the childrenof the National Lon-
gitudinal Survey of Youth, this study assessed
whethermaternalemotionalsupportof the child
moderatesthe relationbetweenspankingand be-
haviorproblems.Childrenwere 4-5 years of age
in thefirst of 4 waves of data used (1988, 1990,
1992, 1994).At each wave,mothersreportedtheir
use of spankingand ratedtheirchildren'sbehav-
ior problems.Maternalemotionalsupportof the
child was based on interviewerobservationscon-
ductedas part of the Home Observation for Mea-
surementof the Environment.For each of the 3
racial-ethnicgroups, spankingpredicted an in-
crease in the level of problembehaviorover time,
controllingfor income-needsratio and maternal
emotional support.Maternal emotional support
moderatedthe linkbetweenspankingandproblem
behavior. Spankingwas associated with an in-
crease in behaviorproblemsover timein the con-
text of low levels of emotionalsupport,but not in
the context of high levels of emotionalsupport.
Thispatternheldfor all 3 racial-ethnicgroups.
Centerfor HumanGrowthand Development, University of
Michigan, 300 North Ingalls, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
(vcmcloyd@umich.edu).
Key Words:behaviorproblems, emotional support,ethnic-
ity, physical discipline.
40 Journalof Marriageand Family64 (February2002): 40-53
Surveys indicate that the majorityof American
parentsendorsecorporalpunishmentas a child-
rearingpracticeand use it to disciplinetheirchil-
dren (Day, Peterson,& McCracken,1998; Gils-
Sims, Straus,& Sugarman,1995;Straus& Gelles,
1986). Corporalpunishmentvaries in intensity
from spanking,typically defined as strikingthe
child on the buttocksor extremitieswith an open
handwithoutinflictingphysicalinjury,to physical
abuse, consistingof beatingsand otherforms of
extreme physical force that inflict bodily injury.
Whereas spanking falls within the normative
range of socializationpracticeswithinthe United
States,physicalabusedoes not (Baumrind,1997).
Several studies have found that parentaluse of
physical disciplineis positivelyrelatedto behav-
ioral (e.g., aggression) and psychological (e.g.,
dysphoria,low self-esteem)problemsin children
and adolescents,but these relationsare markedly
strongerin samplesof clinically aggressivechil-
dren (where frequencyand intensityof physical
discipline tend to be higher than in nonclinical
samples)and samplesof childrenwho have been
physically abused (Dodge, Pettit, Bates, & Val-
ente, 1995; Loeber & Stouthamer-Loeber, 1986;
Strassberg,Dodge, Pettit,& Bates, 1994; Straus,
Sugarman,& Gils-Sims, 1997).
Given its high prevalencein the UnitedStates,
it is clearthatphysicaldisciplineshortof physical
abuse occurs within the context of a diversityof
parentingstyles and behaviors.Consequently,ad-
Physical Discipline
equate assessmentof the effects of physical dis-
cipline on children's developmentmay require
takinginto accountthe broaderparentingcontext
within which physical disciplineoccurs. For ex-
ample, studiesindicatethat physicaldisciplineis
unrelatedto children'ssocioemotionalfunctioning
(e.g., aggression,delinquency,self-esteem)once
dimensionsof parentingassociatedwith physical
discipline(e.g., parentalrejection,low parentalin-
volvement)aretakeninto account(e.g., Larzelere,
Klein, Schumm,& Alibrando,1989; Rohner,Bo-
urque,& Elordi, 1996; Simons,Johnson,& Con-
ger, 1994). On the assumptionthat the affective
quality of parent-childrelationsis an important
markerof parentingcontext, the present study
seeks to determineif the relationbetweenphysical
disciplineandbehaviorproblemsis conditionalon
the level of warmthand supportmothersexhibit
towardthe child. We hypothesizedthat the rela-
tion between physical punishmentand behavior
problemswould be intensifiedin the context of
low levels of maternalsupportbut attenuatedin
the contextof high levels of maternalsupport.
The notion that the effects of physical disci-
pline dependon when and why parentsuse phys-
ical disciplineas well as on the affectivecontext
withinwhich physicaldisciplineoccurshas many
proponents,but directempiricaltests of these hy-
pothesized moderation effects are surprisingly
thin. Based on his synthesis of findings across
studies publishedin peer-reviewedjournals,Lar-
zelere (1996) concludedthatnonabusiveor "cus-
tomary"physicaldisciplineby parentstendsto be
associated with positive or neutraloutcomes in
offspringwhenthe parentingcontextis markedby
high levels of positive parentalinvolvement,a
tendencyto use physicaldisciplinebasedon child-
orientedratherthanparent-oriented motives,con-
sistent follow-throughon disciplinarywarnings,
and absence of verbal putdowns and ridicule.
However,Larzelere'sconclusionaboutmarkersof
the parentingcontextthatmoderatethe effects of
physical punishmentis not outcome specific and
is based on a small numberof primarilyretro-
spective studies with several methodologicalbi-
ases and weaknesses.
More recently, Deater-Deckardand Dodge
(1997) tested the affectivequalityof parent-child
relationsas a moderatorof the impactof physical
punishmentin their longitudinalsample of Afri-
can Americanand EuropeanAmericanfamilies.
They foundthatpositivecorrelationsbetweenpar-
ents' use of harshphysical disciplinewhen chil-
drenwere 5 yearsold andchildren'sexternalizing
41
behaviorduringkindergartenthroughsixth grade
as reportedby teacherswere considerablylower
amongfamiliescharacterized by high levels of pa-
rental warmthand positive affect, comparedto
families distinguishedby low levels of parental
warmthand positive affect. Althoughthe moder-
ation effect was not assessed in the conventional
form of a physicaldisciplineby parentalwarmth/
positive affect interactioneffect, Deater-Deckard
and Dodge's analysis representsa strongtest of
the moderationhypothesisbecauseit is based on
prospectivedata and uses a reliable measureof
observed parent-childwarmthand multipleindi-
catorsof parentalphysicaldiscipline.Extrapolat-
ing from this finding,Deater-Deckard andDodge
speculatedthat differencesin the parentingcon-
text (e.g., prevalenceandacceptabilityof physical
punishmentand parentingbehaviorsattendantto
this form of discipline)may accountfor evidence
that parents'use of physical disciplineis associ-
ated with externalizingbehaviorproblemsamong
EuropeanAmericanchildrenbut not among Af-
rican Americanchildren.This race by physical
punishmentinteractionwas foundwhen the mea-
sureof externalizingbehaviorproblemswas based
on ratingsfrom teachersand peers,but not when
it was based on maternalratings(Deater-Deckard
& Dodge, 1997; Deater-Deckard,Dodge, Bates,
& Pettit, 1996).
McCord(1997) assessedparentalwarmthas a
moderatorof the effects of corporalpunishment
in her sample of impoverished,urbanboys fol-
lowed over a periodof four decades,but her out-
comes were criminalityandviolencein adulthood,
ratherthan child externalizingbehavior.Corporal
punishmentby fathersincreasedthe likelihoodof
criminalbehavioramong sons, whereascorporal
punishmentby mothers increasedrates of vio-
lence. Althoughmaternaland paternalwarmthre-
duced the probabilitythat sons would commitse-
rious crimes,it had no effect on violence, nor did
it moderatethe effects of corporalpunishment.
Rarerstill are studiesthat examinethe effects of
the context of corporalpunishmenton children's
cognitive development.Using longitudinaldata
fromthe InfantHealthandDevelopmentProgram,
a randomizedclinicaltrialof low-birth-weightin-
fants, Smith and Brooks-Gunn(1997) found that
preschool girls who experiencedhigh levels of
punishment(i.e., hittingand scolding)in the con-
text of low maternalwarmthhad significantly
lower IQ scores thanthose who experiencedlow
levels of punishmentand high maternalwarmth.
However,these two groupsdid not differfromthe
42
low punishment/lowwarmthgroup or the high
punishment/high warmthgroup.
Furtherevaluationof the moderationhypoth-
esis is warrantedin light of its prominencein the
socializationliteratureandthe fact thatdirecttests
of the hypothesisare sparseandhave yieldedcon-
flicting findings. Several featuresof the present
studypermita relativelystringenttest of emotion-
al supportand warmthas moderatorsof the rela-
tion between physical punishmentand behavior
problems:(a) we assess the relationbetweenma-
ternalphysicaldisciplineandchangesin child be-
havior problemsover time, (b) we directly test
whethermaternalemotionalsupportsignificantly
interactswith physicaldisciplinein its impacton
child behaviorproblems,(c) moderationeffects
are examinedwithin three differentracial-ethnic
groups,and (d) moderationeffects are estimated
after introducingcontrols for importantdemo-
graphicvariablessuch as genderand income-to-
needs ratios.
METHOD
Data and Sample
Data were a subsetof the childrenof the National
LongitudinalSurveyof Youth(NLSY), an expan-
sion of the fifth cohortof NationalLongitudinal
Surveys of Labor Market Experience. Of the
5,828 women who were originally sampled in
1979 as partof this survey,3,053 were identified
as having had children(n = 5,236) by the 1988
roundof surveys,which constitutesthe base year
of this study. These childrenmake up the pool
from which the analytic sample of this study is
drawn.It shouldbe noted that this sampleis not
a nationalrepresentativesampleof children.
Ouranalysisfocuseson changein the Behavior
ProblemsIndex(BPI),which was administeredin
1988, 1990, 1992, and 1994. This instrumentcan
be used with childrenas young as 4 yearsold, so
our sample selection criterionfor this study was
a child who was 4 in 1988. This decisiongave us
an analyticsampleof the youngerchildrenof the
NLSY sample, namely the 1,990 children who
were 2-3 yearsold in 1986 (andhence were 4-5
years old in 1988 and 10-11 years old in 1994).
The sampleconsistsof 401 Hispanic,550 African
American,and 1,039 EuropeanAmericanchil-
dren.Roughlyhalf of the childrenare girls (48%
of the Hispanics,52% of the AfricanAmericans,
and 50% of the EuropeanAmericans).
Journal of Marriage and Family
Measures
Behaviorproblems.The BPI was developedby
Petersonand Zill (1986) using items drawnfrom
the Child BehaviorChecklistand otherbehavior
problem checklists. Maternalreports on items
aboutthe child'sbehavior(e.g., "Childclings too
much to adults") comprise the full scale. Al-
thoughthis scale has classicallybeen dividedinto
subscalesmeasuringinternalizingand externaliz-
ing problems(the subscalesare correlatedat r =
.70), the full scale has betterreliability(.86) and
more interpretativeclarity (Mott, 1998). Rather
than argue for conceptualdifferences,we focus
on the full scale to indicatelevel of behaviorprob-
lems in total.
In orderto use this scale in a longitudinalanal-
ysis, it has been modifiedso thatthe unit of anal-
ysis correspondsto each child'spercentageon the
total scale for each year.Growthcurve modeling
requirescomparablemeasuresacross each time
point so thatchangefromone time to the nexthas
meaning. Thus, it was necessary to adjust this
compositemeasureso thatthe units had the same
meaning across time. To do this, we formedthe
final outcomemeasurein threesteps:(a) The total
for each child for each year was calculated.(b)
This total was divided by the total possible for
each year'sscale andthenmultipliedby 100. This
computationestablishesa position or "level" of
behavior problemsfor each child in each year,
which can then be comparedacrossyears.(c) We
subtractedthe averagelevel for each racial-ethnic
groupin 1988 (base year)fromevery score. This
thirdcalculationtranslatesevery child's score so
that it is "centered"at the group mean, giving
each group the same startingpoint for compari-
son. This centeringdoes not change the size of
the metric,only the point of comparison.
Spanking.In 1988, interviewersnotedwhetheror
not the motherhit the child duringthe course of
the home observation.In subsequentyears, this
observationwas not made.However,in all years,
the surveyitems includedan open-endedquestion
that asked the motherto reporthow many times
she spanked the focal child in the past week.
These questionsmakeup the measureof spanking
used to predictchildren'sbehaviorproblems.The
datafor 1988 generateda four-levelordinalscale
of spanking.At the bottomof the scale (coded0)
are motherswho reportednot spankingtheirchild
in the given week of 1988. At the next level (cod-
ed 1) are motherswho reportedspankingtheir
Physical Discipline
child once. Neitherof these groupshad any moth-
ers who were observedhittingtheir child during
the interview. At the next level (coded 2) are
motherswho reportedspankingmore than once
but who were not observedhittingtheirchild dur-
ing the interview.At the top level (coded 3) are
motherswho reportedspankingmore than once
and were observedhitting their child duringthe
interview.Foreach of the subsequentyears(1990,
1992, 1994), amountof spankingreportedis as-
sessed as a three-levelordinalscale (i.e., childnot
spanked, spanked once, or spanked more than
once duringweek).
The 1988 measureof spankingis used in our
examination of spanking-relateddifferences in
problembehaviorduringthe base year.However,
to capturethe impact of spankingon change in
behaviorproblemsover time, we use hierarchical
linearmodeling(HLM)techniques,with spanking
as the outcome, to create two measuresof the
"spankingenvironment"of the child. One mea-
sure,the Baysianestimateof the overallintercept,
measures the average amount the child was
spankedper week, experiencedover 6 years.For
example, one child might have been spankedan
average of once a week, anotherfour times a
week, anothernot at all. The secondmeasure,the
Baysian estimate of the slope, estimates the
changein spankingexperiencedas the child aged.
For example, if a child was spankedmore at 4
yearsof age thanat 10 yearsof age, this measure
wouldbe negative,whereasif a childwas spanked
more as he or she got older,this measurewould
be positive. If the amountof spankingstayedthe
same over 6 years, this measurewould have a
value of 0. These two measuresare used as pre-
dictorsin examiningthe changein behaviorprob-
lems over the 6 years studied.This use of HLM
to create child-level measuresreduces the auto-
correlation and error misestimationassociated
with simple averages. A full descriptionof the
method can be found in Bryk and Raudenbush
(1992).
Emotionalsupport.The measureof maternalemo-
tional supportis based on five items from the
Home Observationfor Measurementof the En-
vironment(HOME;Caldwell & Bradley, 1980).
The HOMEobservationswere conductedduring
interviewervisits in each year of the study.The
items concern the amountof warmthand emo-
tional supportdisplayedtowardthe child by the
motherover the course of the observationas as-
sessed by the interviewer(e.g., mothercaressed,
43
kissed, or hugged child during visit; conveyed
positive feeling about child; answered child's
questionsor requestsverbally;encouragedchild
to contributeto the conversation).The scale was
internallystandardizedby NLSY to be compara-
ble acrosstime as the child aged.
As was done with amount of spanking,the
1988 emotionalsupportscale was used as a cov-
ariatefor the baselinebehaviorproblemlevel. In
addition, we constructed(using HLM analysis
with emotionalsupportas the outcome) an esti-
mate for each child of the overall averageemo-
tional supportover the 6 years,and the changein
supportexperiencedby thatchild over the 6 years
of the study.For example,one child pulled from
the samplehad a comparativelyhigh overalllevel
of emotionalsupportover the 6 years (Average
Support= 1.62 SD) and very little change over
thattime (Change= 0.02 SD). Anotherchild had
an averagelevel of supportacrossthe 6 years(Av-
erage Support= 0.05 SD), but it droppedsub-
stantiallyover thattime (Change= -1.2 SD).
Controls.Becauseof genderdifferencesin behav-
ior problems,genderis taken into accountin all
analyses. Similarly,althoughthe sample cohort
was initially selected within a limited age span,
differencescould still emerge related to age in
months.Thusage (in months)was also controlled
in all initialanalyses.However,unlikegender,age
was not a significantpredictorin any analysisand
was subsequentlydroppedfromthe finalanalyses.
Controlsalso were introducedfor family in-
come. We derivedan income-to-needsratioby di-
viding the family's total income by the official
povertythresholdfor thatyear.(Thepovertylevel
for each child comes from NLSY and is drawn
from the federal level declaredfor that year ad-
justedfor family size.) This ratioestimatesfamily
incomein a metricthattakespovertyas its critical
referent.For example,a ratio of 1 indicatesthat
the family'sincomeis exactlyat the povertylevel
for that year, whereasa ratio of 2 indicatesthat
the family has income twice that of the poverty
threshold.As was done with amountof spanking,
the 1988 income-needsratio was used as a cov-
ariate for the baseline behavior problem level.
Similarly,to capturethe family's economicwell-
being over the 6-year period of the study,HLM
was used to providean estimatefor both the av-
erage level of the income-to-needsratioover this
period and the change in income-to-needsratio
experiencedby familiesduringthis time.
44
AnalyticMethod
We analyzedthese data in stages, buildingfrom
simple bivariatecomparisonsto full multivariate
analysisof change. We use one-way analysis of
variance(ANOVA) to examineracial-ethnicdif-
ferences in the BPI (item level and composite),
environmentalconditions,and controls.In these
analyses,we have adjustedthe significancelevel
because of multipletests, so that only those dif-
ferencesfoundat a significancelevel of p < .001
are reported.In addition,we examine the unad-
justedcorrelationsamongall measuresused in the
analysesto providesome sense of how these fac-
tors may be operatingin tandem.It shouldbe kept
in mind,however,thatthese latterrelationsarenot
necessarily sustainedin the multivariatecontext
(preciselybecauseof some of the multicollinearity
involvedbetweenpredictors).
The analysesof behaviorproblemsare all done
with growthcurve analysisusing HLM.This ana-
lytic methodestimatesa changefunctionfor each
childby nestingindividualmeasureswithinperson.
It then uses parametersof thatchangefunction-
the "intercept"and "slope"of each child'sline--
as a person-leveloutcomeon whichcharacteristics
suchas gender,spanking,familyincome,andemo-
tional supportcan be explored.This type of two-
level model is analyticallyappropriate for looking
at nested data structures,such as this case of
changein behaviorovertimenestedwithinperson.
A morecompletediscussionof this analyticmeth-
od can be foundin Bryk and Raudenbush(1992).
We provideonly an overviewhere.
HLM examinesvariancewithin and between
persons,similarto the way thatrepeatedmeasures
ANOVA does. However,it does this by running
what amountsto a small regressionequationfor
each person,of the form Y = 30 + pl3(Time)+
E. Whenthe outcomeof thisregressionis behavior,
30 estimateseach individualchild'sbehaviorlevel
at Time 0 (1988), and 31 measuresthe changein
that child's behavior over time (from 1988 to
1994). These two parametersare conditionallyre-
lated,in thateach is adjustedfor the other.
These two adjustedestimatesabout a child's
behaviorare then lifted to the next level of the
analysisto be the outcomeson which otherchild
characteristicsare predicted. For example, the
HLM equationlooking at individualdifferences
in initialbehaviorwould take the form:
30 = y00 + ~y01(Female)
+ y02(Spankingin 1988) + etc.
Journal of Marriage and Family
Similarly,the equationlookingat changein be-
haviorwould take the form:
p3 y-10
= + y11(Female)
+ yl2(Average Level of Spanking)
+ etc.
Each parameter(termedgammato distinguish
from the betasin Level 1) providesan estimateof
the effect of that variable.For example,y-01pro-
vides an estimatefor the differencein initialbe-
haviorproblemsbetweenboys and girls, whereas
yll estimatesthe genderdifferencein changein
behavior over time. Using this method, we can
examineindividualdifferencesrelatedto bothini-
tial behavior(PO0)and change in behaviorover
time (p31)withoutthe problemsof autocorrelation
amongcommonmeasures,which confoundsmost
repeatedmeasuresanalyses(forfurtherdiscussion
of this issue, see Collins & Horn, 1991).
A commonway to addressthe causaldirection
difficultyis to predictan outcomeby a measure
precedingthat outcome, for example,predicting
child behaviorproblemsin 1990 by spankingin
1988. We use a variantof this process, but the
problemis morecomplicatedbecausebothbehav-
ior problems and spanking are changing over
time. We addressthis problemusing a lagged-
change estimationprocess, in which the change
functionsfor bothbehavior(describedpreviously)
and spankingare estimatedover time, with the
spankingchange assessed at the time point prior
to the behaviorproblemestimates.This strategy
for examiningcross-estimatedchangefunctionsis
describedmore completelyin Duncan and Rau-
denbush(1999).
We conductedour analysisin two stages, de-
signed first to identify the impact of spanking
without controls, and second to examine the
change in impact after controllingfor environ-
mentalconditions(i.e., family income and mater-
nal emotionalsupport).In both stages, we exam-
ined results separately for Hispanic, African
American,and EuropeanAmericansubsamples.
RESULTS
Racial and EthnicDifferences
Table1 shows comparisonsfor the criticalpredic-
tor variables (spanking, poverty, and maternal
warmth)for each yearbrokendown by racial-eth-
nic group,with differencesbetweengroupstested
Physical Discipline 45

TABLE 1. RACIAL-ETHNICDIFFERENCESIN SPANKING,INCOME-NEEDSRATIO AND MATERNALEMOTIONALSUPPORT

OVER THE 6 YEARS STUDIED

African European
Variable Hispanic American American

1988 levels
Amount spanked (M) .69, .91b .65a
Percentagenot spanked 48a 36b 49,
Percentage spanked once last week, not observed hit 24 26 28
Percentage spanked more than once last week, not observed hit 19, 27b 14,
Percentage spanked more than once last week, observed hit 10 11 10
Family income-needs ratio (M) 1.74, 1.48b 2.18C
Maternalemotional supportscale (M) 87.5, 76.6b 90.3,
1988-1994 average levels
Amount of spanking per week (M) .97b .50,
.58,
Family income-needs ratio (M) 1.96, 1.49b 2.37C
Maternalemotional supportscale (M) 103.6, 93.1b 107.7,
1988-1994 change in levels
Change in spanking (M) -.12, -.25b -.09a
Percentage whose amount of spanking declined 24a 41b 17c
Percentagewhose amount of spanking increased 24, 18, 44b
Percentagewhose amount did not change 52, 41b 39b
Change in family income-needs ratio (M) .17a -.05b .16a
Percentagewho stayed in poverty 23a 35b 10,
Percentage who droppedinto poverty 9, 11, 5b
Percentage who rose out of poverty 13a 12a 7b
Percentagenever in poverty 55, 42b 78C
Change in maternalemotional supportscale (M) 14.1 15.5 13.6
Percentagewhose supportdecreased 23 22 18
Percentage whose supportincreased 47 48 51
Percentagewhose supportstayed constant 30 30 31
Note: Values with unique subscriptsare significantlydifferent,p < .001.

by one-way ANOVA (for continuousvariables) Americanfamilies,even thoughthe originalsam-

and contingency table analysis (for categorical
variables).In 1988, fewer AfricanAmericanchil-
dren were "never hit" and more were spanked
more than once a week thanEuropeanAmerican
or Hispanic children.Interestingly,whereasEu-
ropeanAmericanmothersincreasedtheiramount
of spankingfrom 1988 to 1994 (44%reportedan
increase),more AfricanAmericanchildrenexpe-
rienced a decline in spankingover the 6 years
(41%), and only 18% experiencedan increase.
Hispanicchildrenexperiencedchangeas well, but
the same portionexperienceda dropin spanking
as experiencedan increase(24%).
In addition,in 1988, AfricanAmericanshad a
lower family income-needsratioand lower levels
of emotionalsupportthan did Hispanicsor Eu-
ropeanAmericans.Hispanicshad a lower average
income-needsratiothanEuropeanAmericans,but
Hispanicswere similarto EuropeanAmericansin
levels of emotionalsupport.Similarpatternsare
present for the average levels estimated from
1988-1994. In general,environmentaladvantage
appears more concentrated among European
pling of the NLSY targeteddisadvantaged
women
of each racial-ethnicgroup.
BivariateRelationshipsAmong
Covariatesand Outcomes
Table 2 shows a correlationmatrix that relates
each measure examined in the HLM analyses.
These comparisonsallow one to considera variety
of relationsbetweencovariatesusedin these anal-
yses. For example,the relationbetweenspanking
level and emotionalsupportin 1988 was moder-
ately negative (r = -.23), whereas the relation
between income-needsratio and emotionalsup-
port in 1988 was moderatelypositive (r = .29).
In general, relations among variables support
those reportedin other studiesconcerningcovar-
iates of spankingand behavior.
Net Impactof Spankingon Changein
BehaviorProblems
Table3 showsthe resultsof the firststageof HLM
analyses, examiningthe impact of spankingon
46 Journal of Marriage and Family

change in behaviorover time after taking only

gender into account. These analyses were con-
t -C
90000
•cr.
99 O-N
9 ducted independentlyon the Hispanic, African
American,and EuropeanAmericansubsamples,
as well as on the pooled sample.As describedin
the Methodsection,the numbersin this table are
the gammaestimatesof the impactof thesechild-
0 ON -n- , r0- 99c
" level predictorson the initial level of behavior
I" I I --
_ problems(30), shownin the firsthalf of the table,
GO
and the changein behaviorover time (p31),shown
in the second half of the table. Because a value
of 0 in our convertedconstructionof the BPI cor-
aO
-CIOA \V ) CO 0
respondsto the groupmean,the negativeintercept
S I I --
for this table indicatesthatthe comparisongroup
(male, not hit) is slightlybelow the overallgroup
meanfor 1988.
2 oc
2
The firstpartof Table3 shows thatthe amount
GO
tb~o ...... that a child was hit or spankedin 1988 is unre-
0 CL lated to the level of behaviorproblemsreported
2
in 1988, aftertakinginto account(a) the overall
.55
o
r--O N C
-- level of behaviorproblemsover time and(b) gen-
z
0i ON I -
der (y = -.08 for Hispanics, .02 for African
2d
00 0c~r~ 0-0
Americans, and .01 for EuropeanAmericans).
< I -
This resultdiffers substantiallyfrom the correla-
H
V3 0 o
tion shown in Table 2 (r = .46) and points out
mE .I
22 0
00. It the criticalneed to examinerelationsthatchange
2 00-O 00
S0\
z over time in a way that appropriately apportions
c)
U
00
oc
the within-andbetween-persons variance.Thisre-
< .0 t
ON
O O I
sult shouldbe interpretedas a lack of relationship
.,--
between spankingand initial level of problems,
oc
z2P
02 relative to the overall level per person.In other
0 ON~ words, when one looks at the 1988 level of be-
H3
0
* *-
m
1. n
havior problemsin the context of an individual
9-
0 person'sstartingpoint,the amountthatpersonwas
Cl 0 f O
U*00 spankedat the time is unrelatedto comparatively
02
2 0
high or low levels. Thereare some comparatively
low-problem-levelchildren who are getting hit
I i- fairlyoften and some high-problem-level children
who are not gettinghit. In this baselinecompari-
son, only gender makes a significantdifference,
with parentsreportinglowerlevels of problembe-
0
haviorfor girls comparedto boys.
0 0
9 However,being spankedclearly increasesthe
V level of problembehaviorover time. The second
ONr ONG
OGOO
G
partof Table3 shows that all groupshad an in-
crease in behaviorproblemsover the 6-year pe-
... ON
riod (y = 1.35 for Hispanics, 1.27 for African
0.0 . V Americans,and 1.54 for EuropeanAmericans).
O\ C-0
C b~
These gains did not differ by gender.However,
2 od2
~ N 2
0 O-0N0 C ON, 0. childrenwho experiencedmore spankingduring
this time periodhad a largerincreasein behavior
2 ) 2i 6) 0 GO
bO c 5 )EC\ C~ V problems(y = 1.97 more for Hispanics,1.55 for
0.
S~.o AfricanAmericans,and 1.97 for EuropeanAmer-
2.0 ~.- 5r .o
icans). This effect was estimatedindependently
Physical Discipline 47

TABLE 3. HIERARCHICAL LINEAR MODEL RESULTS ON THE NET IMPACT OF BEING HIT ON CHANGE IN BEHAVIOR
PROBLEMSFOR EACH RACIAL-ETHNICGROUP

African European Pooled

Hispanic American American Sample
Average behavior problem level, 1988 -.65 -.38 -.78 -.59
Female - 3.17a -2.83a -2.37a -2.71lb
Amount hit in 1988 -.08 .02 .01 .01
Average change in behavior problems, 1988-1994 1.35a 1.27a 1.54a 1.40b
Female .32 .60 -.09 .26
Average level of spanking, 1988-1994 1.97a 1.55a 1.97a 1.80b
Change in level of spanking, 1988-1994 1.14a .98" .98a 1.01b
aSignificanteffect within racial-ethnicgroup,p < .001. b Significant effect within pooled sample, p < .001.

fromthe impactof changingthe amountof spank- Figure 1 shows a graphic representationof

ing, which was also a factor.Childrenwho ex-
periencedan increasein spankingalso hadgreater
increasesin behaviorproblems(y = 1.14 for His-
panics, 0.98 for AfricanAmericans,and 0.98 for
EuropeanAmericans).Because these effects are
additive, the most "at-risk"child (accordingto
this analysis) would be one who had both high
levels of spankingand experiencedan increasein
spankingfrom 1988 to 1994. Using the pooled
sampleestimates,the averagechangein behavior
problemsfor such a child wouldbe 1.40 (thebase
change) plus 1.80 (the effect for higher level of
spanking)plus 1.01 (the effect for the spanking
increase),or an increaseof 4.21 per year. Given
thatthe overallstandarddeviationon this index is
8.71, this increaserepresentsa change of about
half a standarddeviationevery year.
these results, drawnfrom the results in Table 3.
We highlightthe effects by focusing on two sub-
samplesfrom the full analysis.The first panel in
Figure 1 representsthe estimatedimpact of the
amountof spankingon changein behaviorprob-
lems, focusing on the subsampleof childrenfor
whomspankingremainedconstantoverthe 6-year
period (about 42% of the overall sample). This
panel shows that,whereasall parentsreportsome
increasein level of behaviorproblemsover this
period,those childrenwho experiencehigherlev-
els of spankingon a weekly basis have a much
greaterincreaseover time.
The second panel in Figure 1 shows the esti-
matedimpactof changein the amountof spanking
experiencedby childrenover 6 years, this time
using the subsample of children who were

FIGURE 1. IMPACT OF AMOUNT AND CHANGE IN SPANKING ON CHANGE IN BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS FROM 1988 TO 1994
FOR POOLED SAMPLE OF CHILDREN

Spanking Constant Over 6 years Spanked 1/wk or Less in 1988

16 16-
14 14
-
12 12o
10 S10
? 8 8 .cO
6
4 4
2
S-2
-2
1988 1990 1992 1994 1988 1990 1992 1994
Year Year

---Spanked 2+/wk - -0- -Spanking Increased

-- Spanked 1/wk or less -- SpankingConstant
--Not Spanked - -A- -Spanking Declined
48 Journal of Marriage and Family

TABLE 4. HIERARCHICAL LINEAR MODEL RESULTS ON THE PREDICTORS OF GROWTH DIFFERENCES IN BEHAVIOR
PROBLEMSOVER TIME FOR EACH RACIAL-ETHNICGROUP

African European Pooled

Hispanic American American Sample

Average behavior problem level, 1988 .05 -.75 .02 -.05

Female -1.99a -1.65a -1.43a -1.63b
Amount hit in 1988 .26 .28 .20 .25
Income-needsratio in 1988c -.82a -.14a -.71a -.67b
Level of emotional supportin 1988d -2.61a -4.71a -4.69a -4.02b
Average change in behavior problems, 1988-1994 2.25a 2.03" 2.19" 2.11b
Female .08 .48" -.12 .16
Average level of spanking, 1988-1994 .85a .72a .90a .82b
Change in level of spanking, 1988-1994 .62a .54a .57a .57b
Income-needsratio, 1988-1994a -.09 .04 -.06 -.03
Change in income-needs ratio, 1988-1994 -.75a -.62a -.65a -.66b
Level of emotional support, 1988-1994d - 1.25" - 1.19a -.26 -.83b
Change in emotional support, 1988-1994 -.65a -.69a -.66" -.67b
Interactionbetween emotional support
and level of spanking, 1988-1994 -.62a -.68a -.35a -.54b

aSignificant effect within racial-ethnicgroup,p < .001. b Significanteffect within pooled sample,p < .001. c This measure
is in original metric, where 1 = income exactly at poverty level but has been centeredto the sample mean. Thus, 0 indicates
the average income-needs ratio for that sample, and 1 unit above 0 correspondsto an increase in income above the sample
mean of the amount of designated poverty level. d This measure was z-scored to the sample mean and standarddeviation.

spankedonce a week or less in 1988 (about25%
of the overall sample).Note that the middle line
in both panelsis the same group.The comparison
in the secondpanel shows that,in additionto the
increasein behaviorproblemsexperiencedby all
childrenat this level, thereis addedan impacton
behaviorproblemsrelatedto changein amountof
spanking.Comparedto childrenfor whom spank-
ing remainedconstantoverthe 6-yearperiod,chil-
dren who experienceda decrease in amountof
spankingover time have a smallerincreasein be-
haviorproblems,whereasthose who experienced
an increasein amountof spankinghave a greater
increasein behaviorproblems.
Three criticalconclusionscan be drawnfrom
these results.First,childrenwho experiencemore
spankingon average have a greaterincreasein
behaviorproblemsover time. Second, when the
amountof spankingexperienceddecreasesas the
child ages, the impacton the growthof behavior
problems is blunted, whereas an increasing
amount of spanking appears to accelerate the
growthof behaviorproblems.Finally,whenlook-
ing at the net impact of spankingon the devel-
opmentof behaviorproblems,thereare no differ-
ences relatedto race-ethnicity.The impactis the
same acrossall groups.
CombinedEffectsof Spankingand Home
Environmenton BehaviorProblems
Table4 shows all of the main effects exploredin
the HLManalysisseparatelyfor eachracial-ethnic
group-namely, those of being spanked,the in-
come-needsratio for the relevantyears, and the
level of emotionalsupportin each relevantyear.
Each column is a separateand independentsam-
ple, andthe main-effectsHLMmodelis runiden-
tically on each racial-ethnicgroup,as well as on
the pooled sample. Hence, it is appropriateto
compareeffects within groups as well as to ex-
aminebetween-groupdifferencesin boththe basic
curve and the factorsinfluencingchangefor each
group.We discusseach set of findingsseparately,
althoughall are analyzedsimultaneously.We ex-
plored the possibilitythat each of the home en-
vironmentmeasuresmight interactwith one or
more of the spankingmeasures.However,only
one interaction-thatbetweenthe averagelevel of
emotional support and the average amount of
spanking from 1988 to 1994-was significant.
This is the only interactionleft in the finalmodel.
It is discussedin the section concerningthe im-
pact of emotionalsupportiveness.
Adjustedimpactof spankingon change in behav-
ior problems. Because the behavior composite
was centeredto each group's1988 mean, the in-
terceptin this main-effectmodelcan be interpret-
ed as the averagedeviationfrom the groupmean
in 1988 behavior problems observed for male
childrenwho reportedlywere not hit in 1988 and
have an average1988 income-needsratioandlev-
el of emotionalsupport.Of the threegroups,Af-
ricanAmericanchildrenhave the lowest adjusted
Physical Discipline 49

level of behaviorproblems,followedby Hispanics throughoutthe 6-year period, and compare the

and then EuropeanAmericans,althoughthe dif- changein behaviorproblemsfor those who started
ference between the lattertwo groupsis not sig- at their sample'saverageincome-needratio and
nificant.In addition,althoughthe overall change droppedto those who startedat the averageand
in behaviorproblemsis an averageincreasefor rose. These patternsare shown for each racial-
each racial-ethnicgroup, the change is slightly ethnic group in Figure 2. In general, change in
lower for African American children. In other income level is relatedto a change in behavior
words,afteradjustingfor spanking,income-needs problems, after taking spanking and emotional
ratio, and level of emotional support,African supportinto account.The overallimpactis slight-
Americanchildrenhave a lower averagelevel of ly smallerfor AfricanAmericanchildrenthanfor
behavior problems and a smaller increase over eitherHispanicor EuropeanAmericanchildren.
time.
The effect of spanking is fairly consistent Maternalemotionalsupport.Thereareseveralim-
across racial-ethnicgroups. Once again, we ob- portantobservationsto be made aboutthe results
serve no differencein behaviorproblemsin 1988 concerningthe impactof emotionalsupporton be-
comparingchildrenwho were and were not hit or haviorproblems.Whenconsideringthe cross-sec-
spanked.In addition,the patternsobservedcon- tional results from 1988 (base year), there is a
cerning the impact of amount and change in negative relation between supportand behavior
spankingover the 6-year period are the same as problems.As shown in Table4, childrenwho re-
observedpreviously,thoughslightlyattenuatedby ceive more emotionalsupportfrom theirmothers
the otherfactorsconsideredin the model.Notably, have fewer reportedproblems. This relation is
this relationcontinuesto show no differencesre- stronger for African American and European
lated to racial-ethnicbackground.In short,even Americanchildren(y = -4.71 and -4.69, re-
after one takes into accountrelativepovertyand spectively)than it is for Hispanicchildren(y =
emotionalsupport,spankinghas a similarimpact -2.61). In addition,for two of the groups,there
on the developmentof behaviorproblemsover is a benefitgainedby emotionalsupportiveness on
time, regardlessof a child's racial-ethnicback- the developmentof behaviorproblemsover time.
ground. Unlike what was observed with family income,
supportiveness has additional impact on the
Income-needsratio.As shownin Table4, for both change in African Americanand Hispanicchil-
EuropeanAmericanand Hispanicchildrenthere dren'sbehavior,contributingto a smallerincrease
is a strongrelationbetween the income level of over time (-y = - 1.19 and - 1.25, respectively).
the family and the level of behavior
reported prob- This relationis not observedfor EuropeanAmer-
lems of the child duringthe base year,with moth- ican children, however (y = -.26). Similarly,
ers of childrenliving in moreaffluentfamiliesre- when emotionalsupportincreases,it has a buff-
portinglower levels of child behaviorproblems. ering effect on the developmentof problems,
Thereis an associationbetweenincomelevel and whereasa drop in supporthas an additionalim-
behaviorproblemsfor AfricanAmericanchildren, pact by increasingthe level of behaviorproblems
as well, but it is not nearlyas large.Interestingly, over these years. This result is consistentacross
once this initial impact is in place, the average the three racial-ethnicgroups (y = -.65, -.69,
level of a family's income-needsratio over the and -.66 for Hispanic, African American,and
period from 1988 to 1994 does not make a dif- EuropeanAmerican children, respectively) and
ference in the change in behaviorproblemsover suggeststhataddingemotionalsupportto the fam-
that time. This result suggeststhatthe impacton ily contextis alwaysbeneficial,no matterthe age
behavior is largely constant--childrenwho are of the child or the timinginvolved.
lower in problembehaviorin 1988 maintainthat Finally, and most criticalto this investigation,
level comparedto childrenwho are higher.This we found a significantinteractioneffect between
observationholds only for those families whose emotionalsupportand level of spankingover the
income remainedessentiallyconstant. 6-year periodfor each racial-ethnicgroup(Table
On the other hand, childrenwho experienced 4). Consistentwith prediction,emotionalsupport
a drop in income-needs ratio in their family moderatedthe impactof spanking.Figure3 shows
showed a correspondingrise in level of problem for eachracial-ethnicgroupa comparisonbetween
behavior,andvice versa.To illustratethisrelation, children who were not spankedand those who
we focus on children who were not spanked were spankedmorethanonce a week in low-sup-
50 Journal of Marriage and Family

FIGURE2. EFFECTOF CHANGEIN FAMILYINCOMEON CHANGEIN CHILDREN'SLEVEL

OF BEHAVIORPROBLEMSOVER TIME

A. Hispanic Children B. African American Children C. EuropeanAmerican Children

-2 -2 -2
1988 1990 1992 1994 1988 1990 1992 1994 1988 1990 1992 1994
Year Year Year

- Incomedropped
SIncome stayed same
- Income rose

portive(1 or more SDs below average)and high-
supportive(1 or more SDs above average)home
environments.Amongchildrenwith low levels of
emotionalsupport,both groupshave a high level
of problems,and those getting spankedhave a
greaterincreasein behaviorproblems.Although
the patternis the same for all three groups, the
relationbetweenspankingand increasein behav-
ior problemsis strongestfor Hispanicchildrenand
weakest for EuropeanAmericanchildren.Con-
versely,amongchildrenwith high levels of emo-
tionalsupport,thereis almostno relationbetween
spankingand change in behaviorproblemsover
time.
In general,these resultssuggest stronglythat,
althoughspankingcan have a negativeimpacton
children'ssocioemotionalfunctioningover time,
this effect is moderatedby the emotionalcontext
in which such spankingoccurs. When spanking
occurs in a context of strong overall emotional
supportfor the child, it does not appearto con-
tributeto a significantincreasein behaviorprob-
lems. However,withoutthis supportin place, be-
havior problemstend to increase in responseto
increasesin spanking.
DIscussION
In keepingwith a host of studiesreportingnega-
tive associationsbetween variousforms of coer-
cive control by parentsand socioemotionalad-
justment in children (McCord, 1997; Rohner,
Kean,& Cournoyer,1991;Strassberget al., 1994;
Strauset al., 1997), the presentstudy found that
spankingpredictedincreasesin problembehavior
over the 6-yearperiodaftercontrollingfor gender,
income-needratio, and maternalemotionalsup-
port. Although African American children as
comparedto EuropeanAmericanand Hispanic
childrenwere morelikely to be spankedandwere
spankedmore frequently-a findingthat concurs
with earlier studies (Day et al., 1998; Deater-
Deckardet al., 1996)-we foundno evidencethat
the relationbetweenspankingand behaviorprob-
lems is relatedto race or ethnicity.In contrastto
the presentfindings,some researchindicatesthat
spankingis predictiveof externalizingproblems
among EuropeanAmericanchildren,but not Af-
rican Americanchildren(Deater-Deckardet al.,
1996; Gunnoe & Mariner, 1997). Research is
needed to determineif this patternof conflicting
findingsis due to differencesamongstudiesin the
source of informationaboutthe child's behavior
problems(e.g., mothers,teachers,peers), in the
measureof spanking,or in the extent to which
analysestake accountof the impactof children's
externalizingbehavior on mothers' tendency to
spank(McLeod,Kruttschnitt, & Dornfeld,1994).
The presentfindingsindicatethatthe effectsof
spankingon problembehaviordependpartlyon
whetherspankingis administeredin the context
of high emotionalsupportof the child. Our con-
fidencein the reliabilityof this moderationeffect
is buttressedby the fact that it was replicatedin
separateanalysesbased on three differentracial-
Physical Discipline 51

FIGURE3. INTERACTION
BETWEENAMOUNTOF SPANKINGAND HIGH AND Low MATERNALSUPPORTON CHANGEIN
BEHAVIORPROBLEMSOVER TIME

HispanicChildren
Low MaternalSupport High MaternalSupport
20- 20
S4-;- Spanked
2+/wk
S 15 15
S15 15Not Spanked
10 10-
5--5-

-5" -5
1988 1990 1992 1994 1988 1990 1992 1994
Year Year
AfricanAmericanChildren
Low MaternalSupport High MaternalSupport
20 20

S?i1 15

190 10"

00 I0
5
5.
1988 1990 1992 1994
Year Year
European American Children
Low Maternal Support High Maternal Support

20
20-20 20"

1988 1990 1992 1994

L.
10 10

-S 1988 1990 1992 1994 -5"

Year Year

ethnic groups. Emotionalsupportmay moderate just, and indicativeof parentalrejectionwhen re-

the impactof spankingby influencingthe child's lations with the parentare generally warm and
interpretationof physical discipline. The child supportive.Previous researchindicates that the
may be less likely to view spankingas harsh,un- impactof physicalpunishmenton children'spsy-
52
chological adjustmentis partlymediatedthrough
perceivedparentalrejection(Rohneret al., 1996;
Rohneret al., 1991). It is also reasonableto as-
sume thathostile attributional biases aboutthe in-
tentionsof others-one of the psychologicalfac-
tors underlying aggressive behavior (Weiss,
Dodge, Bates, & Pettit, 1992)-may also be less
likely to develop when physical punishmentis
meted out in the context of positive parent-child
relations.Notwithstandingthe moderatingeffect
of maternalwarmthand emotional support,the
findingsof the presentstudy do not negate some
of the reasonscited by scholarsfor discouraging
parentalrelianceon physicalpunishment.For ex-
ample, as Simons et al. (1994) point out, when
parentsuse physicalpunishment,there is always
the possibility, however miniscule, that the en-
counterwill escalate to the point that excessive
force is used and the child is physicallyinjured.
Furthermore, physical punishment typically
evokes angerand emotionaldistressin the child,
which, over time, may diminishpositivefeelings.
Severallimitationsof the presentstudyneedto
be acknowledged.First, our measure of child
problembehavioris basedon maternalreport,and
as such,it may not be a good indicatorof problem
behaviorin the school settingor othersettingsbe-
yondthe home. Second,the fact thatmotherswere
informantsaboutbothspankingandchildproblem
behaviormay have inflatedthe relationbetween
these variables.Third, our measureof spanking
does not incorporateinformationaboutintensity,
timing,or contingenciesof spanking.It is impos-
sible to know whether "spanking"as adminis-
teredby some parentsconstitutedexcessive phys-
ical force thatfalls outsidethe normativerangeof
socializationpractices.It may be that low mater-
nal supportcovarieswith more extremeforms of
physical disciplinenot capturedin our measure.
In addition,ourmeasuredoes not reflectthe extent
to which spankingepisodesare or arenot preced-
ed by the use of reasonto gain the child's com-
pliance (e.g., reasoning),a factorthat may mod-
erate the impact of reasoning and physical
disciplinealike (Larzelere,Sather,Schneider,Lar-
son, & Pike, 1998).Finally,ourmeasureof spank-
ing is limitedby the possibilitythatsome parents
who spankedtheirchildrenregularlydid not have
the occasion to do so duringthe previousweek
and by the possibilitythat parentswho typically
did not use physicaldisciplinespankedtheirchil-
drenduringthe previousweek (Day et al., 1998).
It is likely that the first bias is balancedby the
Journal of Marriage and Family
second bias, but we cannot determinethis with
any certitude.
Longitudinalresearchthat relies on multiple
informantsabout child behavior problems and
uses a varietyof methodologiesto capturereliable
differencesin the mannerin which parentsad-
ministerphysical discipline would be especially
valuable.We did not systematicallyexplore dif-
ferencesin the antecedentsof internalizingversus
externalizingbehavior,becausethesetwo domains
of behaviorwere highly correlated.Nonetheless,
this is potentiallyan importantline of inquirythat
may provide insight into some intriguingques-
tions. As one example,the relativecontributionof
spankingto internalizingversusexternalizingbe-
havior may depend on the child's temperament
and degree of identificationwith the disciplining
parent.
NOTE
by the Depart-
was provided
Supportfor thisresearch
mentof Psychology andCenterforHumanGrowth and
Developmentat the Universityof Michigan.The au-
thorsexpress sincereappreciationto ShebaShakirand
of
AutumnKelly for theirassistancein the preparation
this manuscript.
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