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The discipline survey: a new measure of parental discipline

Rebecca Socolar1, Eric Savage, Robert F Devellis

  • 1Division of Community Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7225, USA. rsocolar@med.unc.edu

Ambulatory Pediatrics : the Official Journal of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association
|March 17, 2004
PubMed

Insights

A new survey measures parental discipline across various methods and types, including corporal punishment and ignoring. This tool enhances research on parenting interventions and child development.

Area of Science:

  • Child Development
  • Parenting Research
  • Psychological Measurement

Background:

  • Parental discipline is crucial for child development.
  • Existing measures may not capture the full spectrum of disciplinary practices.
  • A comprehensive tool is needed to assess diverse discipline strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and validate a new survey instrument for measuring parental discipline.
  • To encompass a wide range of discipline types and administration modes.
  • To provide a robust tool for research on parenting interventions.

Main Methods:

  • A 45-item structured survey was administered to 182 parents of 12- to 19-month-old children.
  • Data were collected in pediatric clinics in North Carolina and Alabama.
  • Principal component and reliability analyses were used to define subscales and select survey items.

Main Results:

  • The developed survey demonstrated robust subscales for various disciplinary types (e.g., monitoring, corporal punishment, ignoring).
  • Modes of administration, including follow-through and consistency, were also reliably measured.
  • The survey effectively captured a broad array of parental disciplinary practices.

Conclusions:

  • The Discipline Survey is a promising and reliable new measure for assessing parental discipline.
  • This instrument addresses a gap in research methodology for studying parenting interventions.
  • The survey can enhance the quality and scope of research on parental discipline.
Abstract

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