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Determinants of parental discipline practices: a national sample from primary care practices

Shari Barkin1, Benjamin Scheindlin, Edward H Ip

  • 1Division of General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, USA. sbarkin@wfubmc.edu

Clinical Pediatrics
|December 14, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Pediatricians should discuss child discipline strategies with parents, as many parents find their methods ineffective. Understanding parental discipline choices is key to providing tailored guidance for effective parenting.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Parenting Research
  • Child Development

Background:

  • National guidelines recommend pediatricians provide anticipatory guidance on child discipline.
  • Pediatricians often lack understanding of factors influencing parental discipline choices.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate common discipline approaches used by parents of children aged 2-11 years.
  • To assess parental perceptions of discipline effectiveness.
  • To inform pediatric providers on supporting families with effective discipline strategies.

Main Methods:

  • An office-based survey was administered to parents (N=2134) before well-child visits for children aged 2-11 years.
  • Parents reported on frequently used discipline methods and perceived effectiveness.

Main Results:

  • Commonly reported discipline approaches included time-outs (42%), removal of privileges (41%), and sending children to their bedroom (27%).
  • Yelling (13%) and spanking (9%) were less frequent but still reported.
  • One-third of parents considered their discipline approach ineffective.

Conclusions:

  • Parental discipline strategies vary, with a significant portion perceived as ineffective.
  • Pediatric providers play a crucial role in guiding families toward context-specific, effective discipline practices.

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