INFAD (Sep 2014)
Coercive discipline: accounts of brazilian university students
Abstract
Socialization strategies used by parents are part of a relevant and systematic current field of research. One of its main areas focuses on the use and consequences of coercive techniques used by parents, as recent data continues to indicate that these strategies are still very common today. The object of this study was to verify the prevalence of receiving coercive disciplinary practices by means of the retrospective accounts of differing university students in the city of Curitiba, Brazil. 400 participants answered a wide-ranging questionnaire investigating practices used by their parents when they were approximately ten years old; the instrument also analysed the student’s opinions about disciplinary practices they would have with their own children. The results show that the absolute majority of participants reported having been smacked and spanked by their mothers and fathers and there was positive and statistically significant correlation between receiving coercive discipline and the belief that such practices are efficacious in bringing up children. There was no significant difference between receiving coercive discipline and the marital situation of their parents, although participants whose parents were married reported that they thought such discipline was fairer, when compared to those whose parents were separated. A considerable percentage of participants reported having been beaten, both by their mothers and their fathers, with objects such as belts and brushes, but there is no data showing correlation between the use of these practices and the level of their parents’ education. The implications of the use of coercive techniques and corporal punishment are discussed and the relationships between parental behaviour and their children’s opinions about bringing up their own children are shown. Physical punishment is still much used currently and is a controversial subject owing to the fact of parents believing that how they bring up their children is their affair and they are not open to laws or rules dictated by others.
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