baumrind_1997

8/10/2019 Baumrind_1997

1/8

Necessary DistinctionsAuthor(s): Diana BaumrindSource: Psychological Inquiry, Vol. 8, No. 3 (1997), pp. 176-182Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1448882.

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2/8

Psychologicalnquiry

Copyright

997

by

1997,

Vol.

8, No. 3,

176-229 Lawrence

rlbaum

ssociates,nc.

COMMENTARIES

Necessaryistinctions

Diana

Baumrind

InstitutefHuman evelopment

Universityf

California, erkeley

By taking

nto ccount he

moderating

ariables f

culture

nd

context,

eater-Deckardnd

Dodge

add

depth

othedebate

oncerning

he

possible

ffects

f

harsh hysical isciplinen children's

ggressive

e-

havior.

My commentaryocuses

n

the pplicationsf

Deater-Deckard

nd

Dodge's

firsthree

ypotheses

o

the

ontroversyurrounding

he ffectsn children

f

parents' se of

disciplinarypanking.

find

ess

con-

vincing

heir

ourthypothesis

hat he

iscipline

ffect

is

maximized

n

same-genderarent-child

yads.

Ac-

cording

o RothbaumndWeisz

1994),

for oth

oys

andgirls,mothers'uality f

aregiving

s

more

losely

associatedhan

athers'

ith

xternalizingrobleme-

havior.

urthermore,sing ata

from

aslow's meta-

analysis1989),Rothbaum

nd

Weisz

whom

Deater-

Deckard nd Dodge cite

n

anotherontext)

eported

that

hemean ffectizes

of

he orrelationsfmaternal

(rather

han

aternal)

aregiving

ith

xternalizingre

greateror

oys

han

or

irls.

In

an

earlier ontributiono

a

conferencen

the

consequences

f

corporal

unishment,

osted

y

the

American

cademy fPediatrics,raised hree f

the

four

ualifyingypothesesut

orth

yDeater-Deckard

and

Dodge Baumrind,

996)

to

argue gainst he ro-

posal

advanced

y Hyman

1990)

and Straus

1994),

among

thers,

o

proscribeny

use

of orporal

unish-

ment

yparents.submitted,s

do

Deater-Deckard

nd

Dodge,

hat:

1.

Associationsetween arsh

isciplinend

hild

aggression

nclude

nonlinear

omponent.

2. There re

importantultural

ariations

n

the

effects

n

childrenf

orporal unishment.

3.

Social contexts

ithin,

s

well as

beyond, he

family

nfluencehe

meaning othe

hild f a

disciplinaryactic, hus

arying

ts

ffects.

Careful

efinitionsf uch

key erms

s

harsh isci-

pline,

buse, orporalunishment,panking,

iolence,

andchildhood

ggression

ill

further

dvance

onsid-

eration

f the ssues

raised

by

Deater-Deckardnd

Dodge.

Deater-Deckardnd

Dodge

suggest hat

here

s

an

important

onlinear

omponent

n

he

elationf

physi-

cal

punishmentochild

ggressive

ehavior

epending

on whetherhe

ncrementsre at the

high,

middle,

r

low ends of

a

harsh

physical

iscipline imension.

Presumably

harshness

s defined

y

he

middle evel

and abuse

by

the

high

nd of

a

measure

f

physical

discipline.

owever,

t

is not

clear

whether

eater-

Deckard

nd

Dodge

conceptualizearsh

isciplines a

dimensional

r a

categorical

onstruct,

ecause

ome

reportsf data from heir

hild

Development

roject

treat arsh

iscipline

s

occurringlong

continuum,

with

buse

t

one

extremend

harshnesst n

nterme-

diate evel

e.g.,

Weiss,

Dodge,

Bates,

&

Pettit,992),

whereas ther

eports

e.g.,

Deater-Deckard,

odge,

Bates,

&

Pettit,

996)appear

o

treat

buse as

a

cate-

gorical onstruct

dentifieds

such

by

a

social

ervice

agency r

an

interviewer.n

other

nalyses

Deater-

Deckard,

odge,Bates,

Pettit,

995), oth

arshness

and

physical

buse re

firstreatedsdichotomousisk

factorsn a

multivariate

nalysis

f

variance,nd

then

as

continuous

ariables

n a

hierarchical

egression

procedure.or t

east

ome

nalyses

Dodge,

Pettit,

Bates,

994),

n

nterviewer's

ating f

buse

whether

child

adbeen

everely

armed)

as

ncluded o

derive

a

continuous

arshness

f

discipline

core.

Harshness

seems

o

be

operationalizeds

pertaining

nly

r

pri-

marily

o

physical

punishment.

owever, f

harsh

means

npleasant,

tern,r

ruel, hen

he erm

pplies

toother

han

hysical

iscipline,

nd

physical

iscipline

is

not

necessarilyarsh.

I

agree

with

eater-Deckardnd

Dodge

that heres

a

strong onlinear

omponentn

the

relation

fharsh

disciplineo

child

ggression. ut

suggesthat

here

is a

qualitative

ifference

n

the

attern

f

distinguish-

ingattributeshat

define

buse:

Discontinuityn a

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3/8

COMMENTARIES

single rdinal cale resulting

n

nonlinearity

f

func-

tion oints

o

qualitativeifferenceut oes

not

efine

one.

mplicit

na nonlinear

ut

not

categorical odel

isthe ssumptionhatt ome redictable

oint, linear

change

n a

single arameter

eads

to

a discontinuous

change

n

the

ystem,

uch

s increases

n

peed

esult

inqualitativelyifferentaits

n

a horse

s

it

moves

from

walk

slow,

four-beat

ait

with eet

trikinghe

ground

n

a specific rder)

o a

trot

legs

move

in

diagonal airs)

o

a

canter r

gallop three-beatait).

The differentaits re

not

reducible

o

the

ingle a-

rameter

f

peed.

A

complex ualitative ifference

s

defined

y

a

patternf ssential istinguishingttributes

hat iffers

configurationally

n

several ariables.

hus,

uthorita-

tive

parents

re similar

o

authoritarian

arents

n

that

members

f both

patterns

monitor

trictly

nd are

highly emanding,

ut uthoritarian

arents

ifferrom

authoritative

arents

n

that

he

atter re also

highly

responsive

nd communicative

Baumrind,1971,

1991b).The abusive rofile iffers

ualitativelyrom

other

hildrearingatterns

here

parents

lso have

recourse o

harsh

discipline dentified

y severity

and/or

requency

f

use

of

physicalunishmentBaum-

rind,1995).

Parentswho

escalateto batteringrom

disciplinary

se of

corporal unishmentntended

o

correctre

ikely

o

hare

complex

f

ttributes

Vasta,

1982).Abusive arentsremore ikely obehyperre-

active o negativetimulind

to

have

n

extreme

eed

to

control heir hildren. heir

unishment

s

less

con-

tingent

n the

hild'sbehavior

han

n their

wn

nner

state.Rather

han

having

lexible ecourse o

a

wide

range

f

disciplinaryactics,

uch

s

time-out,

nduc-

tion, ersuasion,

enial f

privileges,

nd

use

of

eason,

abusive

parents elymonolithically

n

their

reater

physical ower

o

intimidateheir hild

nto ompli-

ance.Their

nger

s

explosive,

nd

hey

it

n

response

totheir

wn

frustrationather

han

o

correcthe hild.

One wouldexpect herefore,s Deater-Deckardnd

Dodge assert, hat

hild

outcomes

ssociatedwith

pattern

f

physical buse are always

detrimental,

whereas utcomes

ssociated

ith

atterns

hatnclude

harsh utnot busive

punishmentepend n cultural

and

family

ontextual

actors.

Terms sed

n

he rena fphysical

isciplinehould

be

defined

ot

only

for

conceptual larity,

ut also

because

roponents

f

banningorporal

unishment

n

the

home as

well

as

in

the school

have employed

rhetoricalevices o

advance heir

ase on

emotional

grounds. hus, traus's ook 1994) oncorporal un-

ishment

n

Americanamiliess

titled eating he evil

Out

f

Them.

yman1978, 1990),

nd

Maurer

1974),

as well

s

Straus,mployed

uch

hetoricalevices, nd

much

f he

esearch

hey ited

o

upportheir

nquali-

fied onclusionhat

orporal

unishment

laces

child

at isk

or

maladjustmentomes rom

esearchn

physi-

cally bused

hildren

nd

uffersrom

ther uch eri-

ous

methodological

imitationss

oversampling,

eli-

ance n

clinic

opulations,

haredmethod

ariance,

nd

failureouse

ontrast

roups

r

o ontrol

or he

hild's

tendency

o

misbehave

Larzelere,

996).

The

Place of

Physical unishmentn

the

Disciplinary ncounter

Abusive

hysical unishmentonsists f

beating,

kicking,

unching,

calding,

nd

otherwise

nflicting

bodily

njury

n a

child;

t

falls utside

he

normative

range

f

ocialization

ractices

n

most

ultures,

s well

as in theUnited

tates.

y

contrast,pankingonsists

of

triking

he hild n the

uttocks

r

xtremities

ith

an

openhandwithout

nflicting

hysical

njury

nd

s

normativelysed

bymost

arents ith

ounghildren.

Abuse

s violent-that

s, physical

orce s

exerted

n

turbulentr

furious ction o

as to

injure

he

child.

Spankings

not

violent.

Discipline

lays

n

mportant

ole,

ut

y

no

means

themost

mportant

ole,

nhow

optimal

arentingro-

duces

optimal

hild

outcomes. n

middle-class uro-

pean

American

amilies,

uthoritative

arentingp-

pears oproduceptimalutcomesBaumrind,991a,

1993).Because lmost

ll

preschoolhildren

n

Baum-

rind's

ongitudinal

tudy

were

panked,

ncluding

ll

but

one

family

lassified

s

authoritative

Baumrind,

1973),

o

spank

r not

o

spank

was

irrelevanto suc-

cessful

hild utcomesn

that

tudy.

By

notingwhat

haracteristics

f

punishment

re

associatedwith

eneficial

utcomes,esearchers

ay

enable

parents

o

use

aversive

iscipline

ffectively.

Grusec nd

Goodnow

1994)

offered

n

in-depthx-

plorationf he

mpact

f

parental

iscipline

methods,

includingpanking,n thechild's nternalizationf

values.

Spankingmay

rade

brief

eriod

f

ntense

distress or

onger

erm

uilt

nd

anxiety

ssociated

with

nternalization.

panking

maybe

usedto

control

the

hort-term

ehavior

f

the

child

nd to

reinforce

the

uthority

f

the

parent. ow a

spankings

admin-

istered,

specially

whether

t

is used

in

conjunction

with

easoning,

argely

etermines

hetherhe

round

rules

r

metaruleshat

he

parents

ttempt

o

enforce

are

nternalized.

In

his

comprehensive

eview,

Larzelere

1996)

specifiedmany f theconditions hatmaximize he

beneficial

ffectsf

punishment:

sed

essthan

weekly

with

young

hildren,

nd

infrequently,

f

at

all,

with

adolescents;

t

nonabusive

evels f

everityy

parents

177


8/10/2019 Baumrind_1997

4/8

COMMENTARIES

who re

not

hysicallyiolentgainst

amily embers;

privately

n

conjunction

ith

easoning

nd t n

nter-

mediateevel f hild

istress.

he

parenting

ontextn

which panking as associatedwith

eneficial hild

outcomes

n

he tudies eviewed

y

arzelere as hild

oriented

atherhan

arent riented,

arked

y

warmth

and positive nvolvement, ith consistent ollow-

through

nd

monitoring,

nd

unaccompaniedy

natter-

ing

rridicule. arzelere

eportedhat,

hen

rudently

used, spanking

was associated

with

morebeneficial

outcomes

han he

following

isciplinary

actics:

ea-

soning

without

unishment,unishment

ithout

ea-

soning, ove-withdrawal,gnoring hysical estraint,

and

a

child-determined

atherhan

arent-determined

release rom ime-out.

The Child's Perception fthe

Legitimacy fParental

Authority

Mediates heChild Effects fParent

Discipline

As Deater-Deckardnd Dodge

indicate,he

mean-

ing othe

hild f

physical iscipline ftenmediatests

effects

n such hild utcomes s

aggression. uring

the

irstyears,

hich ubin

nd

Dubin

1963)

referred

to

as the

uthoritynceptioneriod,

hildren's etero-

nomous elief

n

rules

nd their nilateral

espect

or

adults xtendsoacceptancef adult ules nd of the

reasons

arents ive

children

or

why

nd

how

they

enforce hese

rules.

Reasoning,

sed

in

conjunction

with

power-assertive

ethods

f

discipline, larifies

the

behavioral

ontingencies

or he

hild, pecifying

what

s

acceptable

nd

unacceptable

ehavior.

y gen-

eralizing

rom

specific

ct

to

a

rule

governing

he

larger

lassofbehavior

xpected

f

he

hild, easoning

broadens he

ontextn which

ompliance

s

expected,

even

n

the

arent's

bsence.

y

explaining

heir isci-

plinary bjectives, arents

ot

only signal

that

hey

believethey we their

hild an

explanationnd are

doing

what

hey

hinks

right

or he

hild,

ut

lso

enable

heir

hild

o

control

unishment

y ontrolling

the ehavior

n

which

unishments

contingent.

Physical ggression

nd

oppositional

ehavior

p-

pear

o

peak

round 0

months,

ith

ther

arent-per-

ceived

discipline roblems,ncluding

ppositionale-

havior nd

emotional

nstability,eaking omewhat

later n

thepreschool ears

Larzelere, mberson,

Martin, 992).

The

mportance

f

using eason ojustify

caregivers'

irectivesncreases ith

ge.

The

contrast-

ing

ffectsf

authorityiewed s ustified

atherhan

as

illegitimate

ecome

articularlypparentt adoles-

cence

Kandel

&

Lesser,1969; Perry

Perry, 983).

By

the ime hildrennter

unior igh chool, hey re

more

ikely

o

model

hemselves

n

parents

ho

egiti-

mate

their

uthority

y

using

reason

o

ustify heir

decisions nd

demands

Elder, 963),

specially

when

childrenelieve

hat

arental

uthority

s

motivated

y

concern or

heir elfare

atherhan

he

dult's

desire

to

dominater

xploit

hem

Pikas,

961).

Adolescents

are most ikely o internalizeheir

arent's

message

when

hey elieve hat

heir

arent

as

followed ue

process nd aken

heir

eeds,

bilities,

nd

viewpoints

into

consideration

Grusec

&

Goodnow, 1994). As

childrenmaturento

dolescence,

hey

ecome

more

protectivef their

utonomy

n

areas

they egard

s

personal,

ut

ontinue

o

viewtheir

arents

s

having

the

ight

o demand

onformity

n

the rea of

morality

and o lesser

xtentf ocial

onvention

Nucci,

981;

Smetana,

988).

The

Cultural

Context

Moderates

he

Meaning

o

Parents

nd

Children f

Physical

Discipline

Parenting

ehaviors hat

ppear

uthoritariann

a

European merican

ample

may

nclude

ulturallyyn-

tonic

eatureshat

moderatehild

outcomesn

Asian

American r African

merican

amilies

Baumrind,

1972).

As

Chao

1994)

showed,

he

raining

oncept

as

important

eatures,

eyond

he

authoritarian

odel,

which

ontribute

o,

atherhan

etract

rom,

he

chool

success of

Chinese

children.

Deater-Deckard nd

Dodge

report hat he mall

ssociation

etween

ar-

ents'

use

of

physical

iscipline

nd

hildren's

xternal-

izing

ehavior

roblems

s

positive

nd

significant

or

European merican

hildren ut

negative

nonsignifi-

cant)

orAfrican

merican

hildren.

Two

factors

hat

ffecthe

meaning

o

the hild

f

parent's se

of

physical

unishment

elp

to

explain

Black-White

ifferences

n

ssociated

hild

utcomes:

(a) physical

unishments

more

normativenBlack

than

White

homes,

nd

b)

its

use

is

associatedwith

different

arental ttributes.he

normative

se

of

physical

iscipline

n

African

merican

omess

often

justified

y

parents

s

necessary

o

protect

hildren

from

hysicalnd social

danger,

s

well

as to

enforce

respect

or

parental

uthority. ore

important,

ow-

ever,

n

explaining

he

culturallyifferentiated

hild

outcomes f

harsh

hysical unishments

the

ontrast-

ing

childrearing

ontexts

n

which

t

occurs.

Deater-

Deckard and

Dodge

(1995) and

Deater-Deckard,

Dodge,

Bates,

nd

Pettit1995) reportedhatAfrican

American

mothers

re more

likely than

European

American

motherso

view

physical

unishment

nd

reasoning

s

equally

ppropriate.or

African

merican

mothers ho

were

warm,

he

orrelation

etween

arsh

178


8/10/2019 Baumrind_1997

5/8

COMMENTARIES

(not busive evelsof)

discipline

nd

child

ggression

were ow,but or hosewhowere

old,

he

orrelations

were imilar

o

hose

f he

uropean

merican

ample.

However, ecause

n

his

nalysis

he

wo thnic

roups

werenot quated or

warmth,

he

pparentulturally

differentiated

ffect

may represent

main

effect

f

warmthatherhan n interaction ith ulture s a

modifier.

If thefamily ontext

n which

disciplinary

actic

operatessprimary,

henwarmthhould lsomoderate

the

elation etween

arents'

arshnessndchildren's

externalizing

ehavior or

European

American

ami-

lies. Indeed, n previous

eports

f

the same study

(Pettit, ates, &

Dodge, 1993), parents' lack of)

warmthontributed

o ater hild

ggression

ver nd

above harsh

iscipline

or he

otal

ample. imilarly,

in

panel tudy

fWhite

amilies

Simons, ohnson,

Conger, 994)harsh orporal unishmenthowedno

detrimental

mpact

n dolescent

ggressiveness,

elin-

quency,

nd

dysphoria,

nce the ffect f

parental

n-

volvement ad beenremoved. motional eglect nd

the bsence f

parentalesponsiveness

ave

been ound

to be moremportant

han

oercive

isciplinary

trate-

gies

n

the

tiology

f

externalizing

ehaviors

Green-

berg, peltz,

&

DeKlyen,1993; Simons,Johnson,

Conger, 994).Thus,

heres reason o

hink

hat cross

cultures,

he hild ffects

f

spanking

re mediated

y

parental

nvolvementnd warmthnd

moderated

y

culturallyifferentiatedormativexpectations.

Necessary istinctions

etween

Prudent

nd

Imprudent

se of

Punishment

Prudent

egative

onsequences

re

consistent,

m-

mediate, alm,private,

nd

specific.mprudentega-

tive

onsequences

re

eprimandseliveredate, ncon-

sistently,xplosively,

ublicly,

nd

nonspecifically.

Physical unishments east ikely obe detrimentalnd

most

ikely

o

be effective

n

deterringnacceptable

behavior

hen

dministeredithout

uilt; nder on-

trolledircumstances

n

measured

ashion, here oth

parent

nd hild re

ware

f

he eason

or

ts se;when

administered

n

privateorwillful

efiance atherhan

for

childish

rresponsibility;

nd

not with

children

younger

han

8

monthsr

subsequent

o

puberty.

In an

excellent et of

experimentaltudies n the

classroom,

teamof

investigatorsRosen,O'Leary,

Joyce, onway, Pfinner,984)

documented

he

m-

portancefprudentegative onsequences ormain-

taining

he

appropriate

ehavior f

hyperactivetu-

dents.

rudent

egativeonsequenceswhich id not

include

paddling),within he context f a positive

teacher-student

elationship,

ere

xtremely

ffective

in

shaping

ppropriateocial and

academic

ehaviors,

andwere

necessaryn

an

ongoing

asis

to control

inappropriate

ehavior f

hyperactive

tudents.

osi-

tive

onsequences idnot

uffice,

nd

mprudent

ega-

tive

onsequences ere

ounterproductive.

Disciplinarypankingnthehome, sedprudently,

can

shape

ocially

onstructive

ehavior,

herebyro-

tecting hildren rom he

natural

nd

more

painful

consequences f

misbehavior

ccurring

utside

he

nurturant

amily

etting.

arents

who

strongly

isap-

prove f

theuse of

physical

unishment

ay

esort

o

it

imprudently-thats,

impulsively nd

explo-

sively-rather

han

deliberately

o

change child's

behavior

Parke&

Collmer, 975).

Corporal

unish-

ment

sed

nstrumentallys

part

f n

entirelyifferent

personality

attern

nd

differs

n

effect,

s well as

intent, rom orporal unishmentsedexpressively.

The

chaotic,

oor,

multipleroblem amilies hat

at-

terson nd

his

colleagues

tudy

Patterson,

982;

Pat-

terson&

Chamberlain,988;

Snyder

&

Patterson,

1995) escalate

heir

hildren's

ggression

y

resorting

to

explosive,

onstrategic

isplays

f

power nd nat-

tering

i.e.,

low-intensity

egative hatter

onveying

dislike nd

disapproval),

yfailing

o track nd

moni-

tor heir

hildren's

ehavior,

nd

by

ventually

apitu-

lating.

AsDeater-Deckard

nd

Dodge claim,

here renon-

linear,ncluding

urvilinear,

ssociations

etween re-

quency

r

ntensity

f

corporal unishmentnd

child

aggression.Whenno

restrainingorces

xist,

hostile

aggressive

hild

ehaviorshat re

uccessfulre

ikely

to

produce

n

ntensificationf

hild

ggressive

cts.

t

appears

hat

hemost

everely unished

hildren re

among hemost

ggressive,

ut

permissive

ractices

that schew

ny

kind f

power ssertion

re lso

asso-

ciated

with

igher

ggression

Gelles,1974).

n

further

support

f this

hypothesis,

efkowitz

nd

colleagues

(Lefkowitz,

Eron,

Walder,

&

Huesmann,

1977;

Lefkowitz,

eusmann,

Eron,

978)found

hat,om-

pared

o

very

arsh r

very

ermissive

arents, oder-

atelypunitive

arents

roduced he

east

aggressive

boys.

hysical

unishment

ncreased

ggressionoward

peers

only

n

boys

who did not

dentify

ith

heir

fathers.

ears

1961) also found

hat

he

childrenf

moderate

sers f

physical

unishment

ere

he east

aggressive.

Necessary

istinctions

etween

Instrumental

nd

Hostile

Aggression

The

emotional,

onstrategicspects f

aggression

aremore

ikelyhan

he

nstrumental

spects

oproduce

179


8/10/2019 Baumrind_1997

6/8

COMMENTARIES

escalation

Berkowitz, 993).

Pulkkinen

1987) made

a similar istinctionetween

ffensive

nd

defensive

aggression.hefound hat hildren

ho

ggress

ffen-

sively lso aggress

efensively,

ut

hat he

onverse

does

nothold.

n

contrasto children

ho at

age

14

aggressed ffensively

ndthen

t

age

20

were harac-

terized yweak

elf-controlndviolentriminal

ehav-

ior, hildren

ho t

age

14

aggressedefensivelynly

were not

characterized

y

an

aggressive

ersonality

patternnd

in factmanifested

ood self-controlnd

school

djustment.

Although igh

evelsof

narcissism,

specially

ar-

cissistic

ersonalityisorders,

ave been found o

be

associated

ith

iolence

gainst amily

embers

Dut-

ton& Hart, 992),

heres no evidence

hat

healthy,

stable

elf-regard

s associated

with

iolence. here-

fore,

distinctionhould

be made between

ustified

self-esteem

nd

egoistic isregard

or he

egitimate

rightsfothers. cCord

1988) compared

he riminal

behavior

f men who had

been

raised

by punitive

parentsi.e.,

thosewhoused

corporal

unishment,

ut

werenototherwise

ggressive), arents

who did not

necessarily

se

corporal unishment

ut

whowere

g-

gressive in that

heyyelled

or threw

hings

when

frustrated,

r

ngaged

n

onsiderable

pousal

onflict),

andparents howereneither

unitive

or

ggressive.

McCord

ound hat dult hildrenf

ggressive

arents

tended o manifest

ggressive

ntisocial

ehavior

s

adults, hereasmen eared

n

homes hatwere

unitive

but

not

aggressive

were

egoistic, lthough

ot

as

antisocial

s the ormer

roup. goismwas

operation-

alized as

expressing ride

nd

pleasure

n

their wn

accomplishments

nd

ccepting

benefit

owhich

hey

were

entitled

$20

for

ontributing

heir ime o the

experiment).y

failing

o

distinguish

etween

ealthy

and

ustifiednormal

nd

virtuous)igh

elf-esteem

nd

selfish

goism,

McCord oncluded

nappropriately

hat

exposure

o

corporal

unishment

ncreased

goism,

conveying

o the hild

he

message

hat

egocentrism

is

both ormal

nd

virtuousp. 21).

An

Evolutionary ypothesis

Is

Superfluous

o

an

Understanding

f

the

Differential

ffects

f

Normative

ersus

Non-Normative

Childrearing

nvironment

The

explanation

or he

observationhat

hildren

respond

more

avorablyotreatmenthat hey

erceive

to be

normativeor

heir

ulturean be

found

n

com-

mon

ocial-psychologicalrocesses, ithoutecourse

to

an

unprovable ypothesizedvolutionary

etermi-

nant-that he

pecieshas evolved o become esistant

to minor

nvironmental

rritants.

he

proximal

roc-

esses

uggested

y

Deater-Deckardnd

Dodgesuffice.

Children

ore

asily

ccept ractices

s

legitimatehat

they

ecognize s

common

n

their

mmediate

ommu-

nity nd

consonant ith

heir

ultural

alues;

parents

whose

disciplinaryractices

re

extremely

versive,

and

non-normativeven n

their wn

community,

re

more

ikely o

sufferrom

athology

esulting

n

rra-

tional r

uncontrolledehavior hat

solates

he

amily

from

he arger

ommunitynd

directly

arms

heir

children.

If

hildrennd

heir

arentselieve hat

isciplinary

spanking

ignifies

ove and

concern,hey

will

respond

more

ositively

han

f

hey elieve hat

he

practices

socially

unacceptable

r

intended o do them

harm.

Applying

egativeocial

anctionso he

se

byparents

of

physical

unishmentenders

he

ractice on-norma-

tive and

delegitimizes

ts use

in

the minds

f both

parents

nd

hildren,

hereby

romoting

he

elf-fulfill-

ing

prophecyhat

panking

will

be

associatedwith

family

maladjustment.

busive

punishments

more

stronglyelated

han

mild

reven

harsh

unishmento

maladaptivehild

utcomes,

ot

ust

because t

s out-

side he

normal

ange,

ut

ecause buse s

ntrinsically

cruel,

nd

onveys

o he hild

hat

ne's

caregivers

re

to

be

feared

nd

hated,

atherhan

rustednd

oved.

Requestsfor

Clarification

1.

The correlations

etween

arshness

f

parents'

discipline

ractices

ith

-year-old

hildren

nd each-

ers'

ratings

f

externalizing

ehavior

n

Grades

K

through

are all

significant

utof

small

effect

ize,

ranging rom

17

to 26.

Although

arshnesss

distin-

guished

rom

buse

n

some

eported

nalyses,

t

s not

clear

f

busive

arents ere xcluded rom

hese

naly-

ses.

f

we

agree

hat

buse

s

qualitatively

ifferent

rom

harshnessn several

arameters,hen anweagree hat

abusive

aregivers

hould

have

been

excluded

rom

these

nalyses?

2. Because

warmthnd

buse re

ikely

obe

nega-

tively orrelated

o a

significant

egree,

he

ompara-

tive

correlations

etween

arsh

iscipline nd

child

aggression orwarm

Black

families

ompared

o

the

correlations

etween

he same

variables

or

hetotal

sample

of

White

families

must

have

excluded

most

abusive

Black

families, ut

not

most

busive

White

families. id

parent-child armth

lso

moderatehe

relationetween arsh isciplinendchild ggression

forWhite

amilies?

3.

For

Grades

K

through

, the

ex-differentiated

correlations

etween

arsh

hysical

iscipline

ndex-

ternalizing

roblem ehavior

re

reporteds

ranging

180


8/10/2019 Baumrind_1997

7/8

COMMENTARIES

between

18

and 28 for

matched-gender

arent-child

pairs, nd

between

05

and

29

for ross-gender

ar-

ent-childairs.

hedifferences

nmagnitude

f he

wo

sets

ofcorrelations

eemsmall.

Are they

tatistically

significant

nd, fso, large nough

o be

meaningful,

especially

n view of thecontraryindings

resented

earlier?

In Summary

Studies

ited

n

Deater-Deckard

nd

Dodge

and

n

this

ommentary

ave hown

hat

he

onsequences

or

the hild

of anydisciplinary

ractice

ormative

or

culture

re

determined

y

the overall

uality

f

the

parent-child

elationship

nd

he isciplinaryattern

n

which

hepractice

s embedded.

or reasons

iven

n

myreply

o Scarr Baumrind,

993),

he nfluence

f

environmental

actors

ithinhe

average

xpectable

range

s

farfrom rivial.

hildoutcomes

ssociated

with ontrastingatterns

f

parental

uthorityary

n

important

ays

within,

ot

merely

utside,

henormal

range Baumrind,

971,

1991a,1991b).

Furthermore,

optimal,

ather

han

good

nough,

hild

evelopment

is

associated

with

ptimal,

ather hangood enough,

parenting

tyles.

hevarying

hild

utcomes

ssociated

with onabusive,

arsh

arenting

ractices

an

be ex-

plained

without

ecourse

o

an

evolutionary

xplana-

tion)

by

the

varying

meanings

f

parenting

ractices

identified

s

harsh,

ased

on cultural orms,

nd the

differentialhildrearing

tyles

nwhich harsh

ractice

is

embedded.

larification

f

he onceptual

nd pera-

tional

efinitionsssigned

o suchkey

erms s

harsh-

ness,

buse,

nd

aggression,

nd tests or

he

ignifi-

cance

ofdifferenceshought

o

have heoreticalmport

wouldfurtherdvance

onsiderationf

the mportant

hypotheses

roposed

y

he uthors

o

xplain

he om-

plex

relations

etween

uch discipline

ractices

s

spanking,

nd uch

hild utcomes

s

aggression,

s a

functionfculturendchildrearingontext.

Note

Diana Baumrind,nstitute

fHuman

evelopment,

TolmanHall,

University

f California,

erkeley,A,

94708-1690.

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Developmentaleview, ,

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.

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arsh

iscipline:

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rocessingtyle.

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Devel-

opment,3, 1321-1335.

Zaslow, M.

J.

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Sex differences

n

children's

esponse

o

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amples, ariables, ges

and sources. meri-

can

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Variation

n

Susceptibility

o

Environmental

nfluence:

An Evolutionary

rgument

JayBelsky

Human evelopment

ndFamily tudies

Pennsylvania

tateUniversity

Themajor inding,

nd ndeed

rincipalake-home

message f the

Deater-Decker

nd Dodgetarget rti-

cle-that

the ffectsfparental

ehaviorn

children's

development ayvary

s a functionf race,gender,

and severity

f dysfunctional

arenting-is spe-

cially

mportantrom he

erspectivef he

cology f

child development.

lthough

Deater-Deckard nd

Dodge are amongthe first o document ifferential

effects

fparentingepending

nwhether

amiliesre

Whiteor Black

and whether arents

re extremely

coercive,

hey renot he

irsto suggest hat

hekinds

of

findingshey

avegenerated

ight e expected

nd

thus hould

be empiricallyursued.

ronfenbrenner

and

Crouter's1983)person-process-context

odel

f

development

pecifically

ddresses heprospect

hat

processes

f development

ay operate

ifferently

n

different

cological

niches, s well

as the factthat

different

ndividuals ay

be differentiallyffectedy

the ame earingxperiences;his atter oint, hich s

considerednly

with espect o

race ndgender

nthe

Deater-Deckardnd

Dodgepresentation,

illbecentral

to

argumentsdvanced

n this ommentary.

182

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