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When reprimand consistency may and may not matter
J T Sherrill1, S G O'Leary, J A Albertson-Kelly
1Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Stony Brook 11794-2500, USA.
Behavior Modification
|April 1, 1996
Summary
Discipline consistency is crucial for children's behavior, but its effectiveness depends on how adults respond to minor misbehavior. Attending to non-punished actions alongside consistent reprimands yields the best results.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Behavioral Science
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Discipline consistency is often studied by varying punishment probability.
- The impact of adult responses to non-punished behaviors is less understood.
- Understanding these factors is key to effective child behavior management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of discipline consistency in children's behavior.
- To examine how the nature of adult responses to non-punished transgressions influences discipline effectiveness.
- To explore discipline consistency as a multivariate construct.
Main Methods:
- Eighteen first- through third-graders in a remedial summer school participated.
- A 2x2 factorial design manipulated reprimand consistency (Low vs. High) and adult response to non-punished transgressions (Ignore vs. Attend).
- Children were assigned to one of the four feedback conditions.
Main Results:
- Reprimand consistency was significant only when teachers attended to non-punished transgressions.
- The nature of the adult's response to non-punished actions moderates the effect of discipline consistency.
- This suggests a complex interaction between different disciplinary strategies.
Conclusions:
- Discipline consistency's impact is influenced by how adults handle minor misbehavior.
- Effective discipline requires considering the adult's response to non-punished actions.
- Discipline consistency should be viewed as a multivariate construct for better understanding child behavior.