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Associations between 11 parental discipline behaviours and child outcomes across 60 countries
Kaitlin Paxton Ward1, Andrew Grogan-Kaylor2, Julie Ma3
1School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Insights
Parental psychological and physical aggression negatively impacts child development. Verbal reasoning is linked to better child outcomes, while aggression increases behavioral issues. Reducing aggressive discipline is crucial for socioemotional growth in children.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Developmental Science
- Global Health
Background:
- Parenting behaviors significantly influence early childhood socioemotional development.
- Understanding discipline strategies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is crucial for targeted interventions.
- Aggressive discipline practices are prevalent globally, with potential long-term negative consequences for children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the associations between various caregiver discipline behaviors and child outcomes (aggression, distraction, prosocial peer relations) in children under five.
- To investigate these associations across diverse cultural contexts within LMICs.
- To identify specific discipline strategies that promote positive socioemotional development.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the fourth and fifth rounds of the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS).
- Included a large sample of 229,465 respondents from 60 LMICs, focusing on households with children under five.
- Employed Bayesian multilevel logistic regression to analyze the relationships between discipline behaviors and child outcomes.
Main Results:
- Verbal reasoning and shouting were the most common discipline methods. Psychological and physical aggression were linked to increased child aggression and distraction.
- Verbal reasoning was associated with lower child aggression and higher prosocial peer relations.
- Taking away privileges and redirecting children (giving them something else to do) were associated with increased distraction and/or lower prosocial peer relations.
Conclusions:
- Psychological and physical aggression are detrimental to children's socioemotional development globally.
- Only verbal reasoning demonstrated positive associations with child socioemotional development.
- Reducing parental use of psychological and physical aggression is essential across all cultural contexts to foster healthy child development.
Objectives:
To test associations between 11 caregiver aggressive and non-aggressive discipline behaviours and outcomes (aggression, distraction and prosocial peer relations) of children under 5 years in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Participants:
Data came from the fourth (2009-2013) and fifth (2012-2017) rounds of the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. Analyses were restricted to households with children under 5 years, leaving a sample of 229 465 respondents across 60 LMICs. Data were analysed using Bayesian multilevel logistic regression.
Results:
Verbal reasoning (80%) and shouting (66%) were the most common parental discipline behaviours towards young children. Psychological and physical aggression were associated with higher child aggression and distraction. Compared with not using verbal reasoning, verbal reasoning was associated with lower odds of aggression (OR)=0.92, 95% credible interval (CI)=0.86 to 0.99) and higher odds of prosocial peer relations (OR=1.30, 95% CI=1.20 to 1.42). Taking away privileges was associated with higher odds of distraction (OR=1.09, 95% CI=1.03 to 1.15) and lower odds of prosocial peer relations (OR=0.92, 95% CI=0.87 to 0.98). Giving the child something else to do was associated with higher odds of distraction (OR=1.06, 95% CI=1.01 to 1.12). The results indicated country-level variation in the associations between parenting behaviours and child socioemotional outcomes.
Conclusions:
Psychological and physical aggression were disadvantageous for children's socioemotional development across countries. Only verbal reasoning was associated with positive child socioemotional development. No form of psychological aggression or physical aggression benefited child socioemotional development in any country. Greater emphasis should be dedicated to reducing parental use of psychological and physical aggression across cultural contexts.
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