Race and Parental Discipline Practices: A Cross-national Comparison

• In Event: 1483 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 14. Gender, Race, and Childrearing

Abstract

Various forms of harsh discipline have been linked to negative child behaviors and adolescent outcomes in both the United States and in other contexts. In examining harsh discipline, scholars have observed racial differences in favored discipline practices in the United States. In order to better understand and contextualize the relationship between race/ethnicity and parental discipline practices in the United States, and to examine whether this relationship is consistent in different contexts, we compare this relationship to the one observed in a similar country: the United Kingdom. To do this, we use two datasets: ECLS-K (US) and MCS (UK), and run binomial logistic regressions on five outcomes: spanking/smacking, yelling/shouting, timeout/sending to bedroom, discussing/reasoning, and withdrawing privilege/removing treats. Our analysis show that racial differences indeed are observed in the United States, and racial differences are also observed in the United Kingdom. Blacks in the US are four times as likely to spank their kids as whites, while Blacks, Asians, and other race in the UK are more than twice as likely as whites to smack their children. Whites are more likely than most other racial groups to yell in both the US and in the UK, and the same is found for timeout/sending child to bedroom. Results for other outcome variables are sporadic and less clear. Based on these findings, we conclude that the racial differences observed in the United States regarding preferred discipline practices by parents are not unique to the US context, and need to be further examined empirically.

Authors

• Florencia Silveira, Brigham Young University

• Kevin M. Shafer, Brigham Young University

• Maia Roberson