Comparing Child Outcomes of Physical Punishment and Alternative Disciplinary Tactics: a Meta-analysis

Overview

Journal Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev

Publisher Springer

Specialties Pediatrics
Psychology

Date 2005 May 19

PMID 15898303

Citations 41

Authors

Robert E Larzelere

Brett R Kuhn

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

This meta-analysis investigates differences between the effect sizes of physical punishment and alternative disciplinary tactics for child outcomes in 26 qualifying studies. Analyzing differences in effect sizes reduces systematic biases and emphasizes direct comparisons between the disciplinary tactics that parents have to select among. The results indicated that effect sizes significantly favored conditional spanking over 10 of 13 alternative disciplinary tactics for reducing child noncompliance or antisocial behavior. Customary physical punishment yielded effect sizes equal to alternative tactics, except for one large study favoring physical punishment. Only overly severe or predominant use of physical punishment compared unfavorably with alternative disciplinary tactics. The discussion highlights the need for better discriminations between effective and counterproductive use of disciplinary punishment in general.

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