might exacerbate mothers' stress and increase the chances of child maltreatment. .... lone parents are a risk group for physical abuse of their children. These.
JOURNAL Nobes, Smith OF/ FAMILY FAMILY STRUCTURE ISSUES / AprilAND 2002PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT
A community sample of nearly 500 parents was interviewed in order to examine the relative extent of physical punishment of children in one- and two-parent homes. Lone mothers’ use of physical punishments was compared first with partnered mothers’ and second with the combination of mothers’ and fathers’ punishments in two-parent homes. Lone mothers were considerably more disadvantaged than partnered mothers yet did not punish their children more frequently or more severely. Among mothers with poor mental health, those with partners reported having used more severe physical punishments. Inclusion of fathers’ punishments showed that children of lone mothers were punished less frequently and severely than children who had two parents, indicating that children in one-parent homes are not a risk group for harsh physical punishment or abuse. Indeed, in difficult circumstances partners might exacerbate mothers’ stress and increase the chances of child maltreatment.
Family Structure and the Physical Punishment of Children GAVIN NOBES University of East London MARJORIE SMITH University of London
This article compares the extent of physical punishment of children in one-parent (lone mother) and two-parent (mother and father) families. It is important to researchers and practitioners to address this issue because physical punishment has been linked with abuse: It is likely that most physical abuse begins as physical punishment that goes too far (Gil, 1973; Kadushin & Martin, 1981; Wilson-Oyelaran, 1989). In addition, frequent and severe physical punishment is associated with children’s antisocial behavior (e.g., Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, 1994; Eron, Huesmann, & Zelli, 1991; Farrington, 1995; Fergusson & Lynskey, 1997; Newson & Newson, 1989; Olweus, 1993; Patterson, Reid, & Dishion, 1992; Rothbaum & Weisz, 1994; Straus, 1991). It follows that if the extent of physical punishAuthors’ Note: This research was supported by grant number 370/0242 to the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, from the Department of Health, awarded to Marjorie Smith. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Department of Health. We are grateful to the families who participated in the study and to Caroline Goodman, Andrea Heverin, and Penney Upton for their fieldwork. Thanks also to Derek Moore and Charlie Owen for their help with data analyses and to Patrick Nobes and Anne Woollett for their comments on an earlier draft. JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES, Vol. 23 No. 3, April 2002 349-373 © 2002 Sage Publications
349
350
JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES / April 2002
ment differs in one- and two-parent families, so too will the children’s levels of risk for abuse and antisocial behavior. On a number of grounds, lone mothers might be expected to use physical punishment relatively frequently and harshly. For example, lone parents usually have sole responsibility for control of their children and might therefore compensate for the lack of a partner who contributes to the discipline of children by being more punitive than other parents. In addition, the social disadvantages associated with one-parent families, notably poverty, lack of education, and poor mental health (e.g., Burghes, 1993; Simons & Johnson, 1996; Smock, 1993; Weinraub & Gringlas, 1995) are likely to lead to greater parental stress and poor parent-child relations, and hence to more extensive use of physical punishment (e.g., Giles-Sims, Straus, & Sugarman, 1995; McLoyd, 1990; Susman, Trickett, Ianotti, Hollenbeck, & Zahn-Waxler, 1985) and perpetration of physical abuse (e.g., Pelton, 1981; Trickett, Aber, Carlson, & Cicchetti, 1991; Wolfner & Gelles, 1993). It might also be argued that one-parent families are inherently unstable, or that the lack of paternal authority is detrimental to children’s behavior and the development of responsible self-regulation, again resulting in more frequent and severe physical punishment of children (although, of course, the poor behavior could be a consequence rather than the cause of the punishment). Indeed, there is some evidence that children from oneparent families are more likely to be antisocial (e.g., Dodge et al., 1994; Matsueda & Heimer, 1987; Rutter & Madge, 1976; Wells & Rankin, 1991). On the other hand, interpartner discord is another important stressor that is associated with increased physical punitiveness toward children (Conger et al., 1992). On these grounds, single (never partnered) mothers would be expected to use less physical punishment than partnered mothers. In contrast, it is possible that separated or divorced lone mothers are more physically punitive than partnered mothers, because high levels of discord can persist even after separation (Amato & Keith, 1991). Studies in which lone and partnered mothers’ punitiveness have been compared include the second National Family Violence Survey. According to Gelles (1989), data from this study indicate that in the United States, lone mothers use no more violence toward their children than do partnered mothers. However, the rate of use of “very severe” violence by single mothers was 71% higher than that by partnered mothers although, perhaps owing to its low base-rate, this difference was nonsignificant. Sariola and Uutela (1992) report that in Finland, lone mothers use less violence overall than do mothers in two-parent families. Again, though, they found that
Nobes, Smith / FAMILY STRUCTURE AND PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT
351
lone mothers were more likely to have used violence rated as “severe.” Gelles and Edfeldt (1986) found no significant differences between Swedish lone parents’ and partnered parents’ rates of violence toward children. These studies have addressed the question, Are lone or partnered mothers more physically punitive? But there is a different, arguably more important, issue: Are children physically punished more in one- or two-parent families? Whereas the first, parent-centered question has been addressed by assessing the punitive actions of one parent in each family, the second, child-centered, question requires, in two-parent families, consideration of how both parents punish their children (see Nobes & Smith, 1997). It might be the case that lone mothers use more physical punishment than do partnered mothers but that the absence of fathers in oneparent families results in children of lone parents experiencing less physical violence simply because there are fewer parents present to monitor and punish. This seems likely because mothers and fathers use physical punishment to approximately equal extents (Nobes & Smith, 2000, Nobes, Smith, Upton, & Heverin, 1999). Research that addresses the second, child-centered question appears to be absent regarding physical punishment: It is not known whether children from one-parent homes are physically punished more or less often than are children from two-parent homes. However, a number of studies have addressed this issue by comparing rates of physical abuse in one- and two-parent families (see Gelles, 1989). They have tended to indicate that lone parents are a risk group for physical abuse of their children. These studies are based on data from clinical sources or official reports of child abuse and are criticized by Gelles (1989) on the grounds that the data could be nonrepresentative and influenced by ascertainment biases. Trocmé, McPhee, and Tam’s (1995) findings illustrate this point: They found that 41% of the reportedly abused or neglected children in their Ontario study came from one-parent families, more than 3 times the proportion of one-parent families in the province. However, they also report that “the substantiation rate for . . . single mothers was lower than average (23%). This may be an indication that children from these families are more likely to be overreported, possibly because of the stigma associated with single parenthood” (p. 571). A different approach to comparing physical abuse in families was taken by Sack, Mason, and Higgins (1985), who interviewed 802 adults about their childhood experiences. Each interviewee was rated as having experienced no abuse, possible abuse, or well-established abuse. They found that 9% of children brought up in one-parent homes and 5% in two-
352
JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES / April 2002
parent homes had experienced abuse that was well established. On this basis, they concluded that “abusive punishment in single-parent households is twice that of two-parent families” (p. 252). However, their figures also show that more of the one-parent group had experienced no abuse (57% vs. 51%). The difference between the two groups probably occured only because fewer interviewees from one-parent families than from two-parent families were described as having experienced possible abuse—for some reason, the researchers seem to have found this group easier to assess as having or as not having been abused. When the two groups are compared according to whether they had or had not experienced abuse that was well established, the apparent difference is found to be nonsignificant, χ2(1) = 3.02, p = .08. Moreover, a surprisingly high proportion (32.7%) of the oneparent families was father-headed. When these are excluded from the analysis so that interviewees from lone mother-headed families are compared with those from two-parent families, the difference does not approach significance (8% vs. 5%), χ2(1) = 1.46, p = .22. On both counts, therefore, the authors’ conclusion, which is based on just 13 instances of well-established abuse in lone-parent families (only eight of which were mother-headed) is not supported by their own data. Not all researchers have reported more abuse occurring in one-parent families. According to the American Association for Protecting Children (1988), the proportion of reported instances of physical abuse that occurred in lone mother-headed households was very similar to the proportion of these families in the U.S. population (25.4% and 23%, respectively). Kempe and Kempe (1978) go further and offer an explanation: In our experience, single parents are rather less abusive than couples, which is surprising because one would think that a spouse would provide support in the face of crises. In fact a spouse who is not supportive is worse than no spouse at all when it comes to childrearing. (pp. 36-37)
Although it is important to detect any differences between lone and partnered mothers’ physical punishments and their children’s experience of punishment, it is also necessary to examine possible reasons for these differences. Labeling one type of family as relatively punitive or abusive can be misleading if other factors are not taken into account. For example, because the majority of one-parent families are very much poorer than two-parent families, high rates of violence might reflect their poverty rather than the number of parents in each family. Indeed, Gelles (1989) found that the reported difference in rates of very severe violence was substantially reduced when income was controlled for. He writes that “the
Nobes, Smith / FAMILY STRUCTURE AND PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT
353
high rate of abusive violence among single mothers appears to be a function of the poverty that characterizes mother-only families” (pp. 498-499). Another example of a factor to be considered is the quality of relationship between partners: If the Kempes are correct in their view that unsupportive partners are worse than none at all, then marital quality would be expected to be worse in abusive than in nonabusive two-parent homes. This study addressed the parent-centered question (Are lone or partnered mothers more physically punitive?) by comparing punishments administered by mothers in one- and two-parent families. It also addressed the child-centered question (Are children physically punished more in one- or two-parent families?) by comparing children’s experiences of punishments in the two types of family. To explore the reasons for differences (or lack of differences) between lone and partnered mothers, the possible impact of a number of factors such as income and mental health was also investigated. In addition, the influence of the quality of relationships within families was explored, and the behavior of children in oneand two-parent homes compared.
METHOD Sample. Families with children aged 1:0, 4:0; 7:6, or 11:6 years were randomly selected from U.K. health authority lists in an urban area outside London and an area of south London. All mothers and, in two-parent families every fourth father, were invited to take part. The sampling was stratified so that there were approximately equal numbers of children of each gender and each age group. The response rate was 80.2%. A total of 498 parents from 399 families were interviewed. They comprised 342 mothers in two-parent families, 99 of these mothers’ partners, and 57 lone mothers. The partners were all fathers, defined as men who at the time of interview had had a cohabiting relationship with the mother for at least a year.1 Within the two-parent families, 282 couples were married, there were 8 stepfathers and 1 stepmother, and 3 children who were adopted. The 57 lone mothers were all natural parents of whom 31 were separated or divorced, 18 were single (never partnered) parents, 2 were widowed, and 6 had steady, noncohabiting relationships with the father. Procedure. The interviews were interviewer led and semistructured and took place in the respondents’ homes. In the 99 families in which both
354
JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES / April 2002
mother and father took part, interviews were conducted separately and, in all but 8 families, simultaneously. Parents were asked principally about the nature, severity, and frequency of their own use of punishments of children. Information about many other aspects of the individuals and families concerned was also collected. Physical punishments were grouped into one of four categories, these being: — smacking/hitting, including hitting, spanking, slapping, and beating; — physical restraint, including pushing, shaking, throwing, and holding; — punishment by example, consisting of punishments such as squeezing, biting, and pinching, usually administered with the intention of demonstrating to children the consequences of their actions; — ingestion, including washing the child’s mouth out with soap and water, and forced feeding. Parents of 1-year-olds were not asked about this category.
For each category, parents were asked whether they had administered to the child any of the different punishment types included in the category. Parents’estimates of the frequency of use were established through examples and standardized questions such as, “To stop their children from doing certain things, many parents show their children just how painful these things can be: Have you ever done anything like this?” Examples including pulling hair, scratching, and pinching were given. Unless parents replied that they had never done any of these, they were asked: “When was the last time? And the time before?” To assess severity of punishments, parents were asked to describe actual events (Graham & Rutter, 1968). The intensity and consequences of the most recent incident in each category, and any use of implements, were recorded from parents’ replies to questions, including “[on the last occasion], how many times did you smack? Where on her body? Did it leave a mark? Did you use your hand (which part?) or something else?” Information about the most severe punishments ever administered by the parent was sought through questions such as, “Have you ever smacked her more than that? Have you smacked her anywhere else? Have you ever left a mark or injured her? Where else have you smacked her? Have you ever hit her with something else?” These two measures of the extent of physical punishment—frequency and severity—were used in subsequent analyses. They are not wholly independent measures, as parents who punished more frequently were also more likely to have inflicted a punishment that was rated as severe.
Nobes, Smith / FAMILY STRUCTURE AND PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT
355
Parents’ mental health was rated using a compound variable comprising interviewers’ assessments from parents’ reports of depression, anxiety, psychoses, general health, and treatment. In addition, the Malaise Inventory (Rutter, Tizard, & Whitmore, 1970) was completed by parents. Children’s behavior was rated by mothers using the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (Bates, 1988) for 1-year-olds and the Conners (1973) Children’s Rating Scales for the 4-, 7- and 11-year-olds. Schoolchildren were also assessed by their teachers using the Teacher Rating Scale (Conners, 1969). The quality of partners’ relationships in two-parent families was assessed using an interview assessment of marriage (Quinton, Rutter, & Rowlands, 1976). The quality of mother-child relationships was measured with questions addressing perceived positive attributes of the child, warmth toward and criticism of the child, and enjoyment of the child’s company. Mothers were also asked how frequently they became irritated with their children and the extent of their joint activities at home (e.g., watching television, reading or drawing together, playing and helping with household tasks) and away from home (e.g., visits to cinemas, parks, swimming pools, libraries) (Smith & Jenkins, 1991). Analysis. Mothers’ and fathers’ reported frequencies of use of each of the four physical punishment categories were coded on a seven-category ordinal scale from never to daily or more often2. So too was a measure of the frequency of use of physical punishment of any kind. This measure (any physical punishment) takes into account the frequency of all four categories of physical punishment and is based on the frequency of the category of punishment that the parent used most often. The rate at which children in two-parent families received parental physical punishment was calculated by aggregating the mothers’and fathers’frequencies of punishment (see Nobes & Smith, 1997). Based on parents’ descriptions of actual incidents, interviewers rated the severity of punishments as mild, moderate, or severe. Severe punishments were defined as those that were intended to, had the potential to, or actually did cause injury to the child.
RESULTS Sample. The one- and two-parent families were very similar in terms of child age, gender, and number of children per family (see Table 1). However, in almost all measures of social deprivation, lone parents were, on average, worse off than partnered parents: They were very much poorer, of
356
TABLE 1
Family Structure and Associated Variables One Parent (N = 57)
Two Parents (N = 342)
Independent Variable
Category
n
%
n
%
z
p
Child’s age
1 year 4 years 7:6 years 11:6 years Girl Boy
12 15 19 11 28 29
21.1 26.3 33.3 19.3 49.1 50.9
91 89 81 81 168 174
26.6 26.0 23.7 23.7 49.1 50.9
.43
.67
.00
1.00
24 years or younger 25 years or older No O levels O levels or beyond Employed Not employed Few problems Many problems Low High
42 15 38 19 17 40 25 32 23 30
73.7 26.3 66.7 33.3 29.8 70.2 43.9 56.1 43.4 56.6
166 175 161 181 183 158 188 141 175 127
48.7 51.3 47.1 52.9 53.7 46.3 57.1 42.9 57.9 42.1
3.92
< .001
2.70
< .01
£7,800 or less More than £7,800 1 or 2 children 3 or more children I-III nonmanual III manual-no employment
42 15 40 17 31 26
73.7 26.3 70.2 29.8 54.5 45.6
37 305 229 113 240 102
10.8 89.2 67.0 33.0 70.2 29.8
Child’s gender Mother’s Age at birth of 1st child Education Employment Mental health Social support Family’s Income Size Social group
3.27
.001
3.46
