Heterogeneous Effects of Parental Physical Abuse on Children’s Delinquent Behavior in South Korea

• In Event: Global Perspectives on Parenting and Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

A robust literature has documented detrimental effects of parental physical abuse on children’s delinquent behavior (e.g., Braga et al., 2017). Research has also shown the association of physical punishment and increased risk of physical abuse (Zolotor et al., 2011) and the adverse effects of physical punishment on child behavior (Gershoff & Grogan-Kaylor, 2016). However, scarce research has examined whether there may be systematic heterogeneity in the risk of children’s exposure to physical abuse based on child and parent predictors. Another question that remains unexplored is whether the effects of physical abuse on delinquent behavior may differ by the propensity for experiencing physical abuse. We address these gaps by employing propensity score stratification analysis on a sample of South Korean children to examine both pretreatment and posttreatment heterogeneity in the association between physical abuse and delinquent behavior. Precisely, we use predictors of physical abuse, including physical punishment, to estimate the propensity for experiencing physical abuse and examine whether the effects of physical abuse on delinquent behavior vary by propensity for physical abuse.

We used data from Wave 4 (4th grade) to Wave 7 (7th grade) of the 2010 Korean Child and Youth Panel Survey, a nationally representative sample of South Korean children (n = 1,797). At Wave 7, children reported whether they had engaged in any of the 14 delinquent behaviors such as smoking, truancy, beating, and sexual assault in the past year (yes/no). At Wave 6, children reported whether they were exposed to physical abuse (parents hit so badly that they were injured or bruised). Child and parent predictors measured at Wave 4 and Wave 5 estimated the propensity score for physical abuse at Wave 6. These included children’s report of physical punishment, aggression, depression, academic behavior regulation, parental monitoring, and parent report of life satisfaction and socioeconomic characteristics. Based on the propensity scores, children were grouped into five strata—from the lowest to highest propensity for experiencing physical abuse. Subsequently, the effect of physical abuse at Wave 6 on delinquent behaviors at Wave 7 was estimated within each stratum.

Children in stratum 5 with highest propensity for physical abuse were most likely to have experienced physical punishment (M = .99, SD = .09), than their counterparts in the lower strata (stratum 3; M = .04, SD = .20). Children in stratum 5 reported higher levels of behavior problems, lower SES, and were more likely to be males. The effect of physical abuse on subsequent delinquent behaviors was significant among children in stratum 5 (β = 0.915, p < .01) while these associations were not statistically significant in the lower strata.

The results indicate both pre-treatment and post-treatment heterogeneity such that physical punishment, behavior problems, and low SES increase the risk of physical abuse and that the consequences of physical abuse on delinquent behavior is evident for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children. Intervention and prevention efforts should consider heterogeneity in the deleterious consequences of physical abuse on children by identifying and providing comprehensive services to children with multiple risks to physical abuse.

Authors

• Julie Ma, University of Michigan - Flint
  Presenting Author

• Yoonsun Han, Seoul National University
  Non-Presenting Author