Threats of corporal punishment as verbal aggression: a naturalistic study

This study examined firsthand observations of adults (N = 70) making public verbal threats to physically punish or hurt children. While many adults threatened the child with a "spanking," most used a variety of other terms, some euphemistic and some menacing, to label the threatened event. Angry shouting seemed rare, and swearing was almost nonexistent. Many threatening adults, however, also hit the child. In the course of threatening their children, adults typically attributed unshared responsibility for group problems to the child. They also normalized their own aggression by acting as though nothing unusual had happened. Perhaps for tactical reasons, most children also reacted as though there were nothing unusual about the threat. No one inside or outside the group intervened. It is argued that a complete understanding of verbal aggression against children requires an appreciation of the ongoing interaction in which episodes are embedded, and of the immediate social context in which episodes develop. Public places may be an important facilitative context because of the expectations associated with a parent's public persona.