Researchers who employ contextual models of parenting contend that it is not spanking per se, but rather the context in which spanking occurs and the meanings children ascribe to spanking, that predict child outcomes. This study proposed two plausible meanings that children may ascribe to spanking--a legitimate expression of parental authority or an act of interpersonal aggression--and hypothesized that to the degree that spanking is perceived as the former, it will not foster child aggression. It also proposed that children's espousal of one or the ocher of these meanings is a function of both cultural norms and the nature of the family hierarchy. Using data from 1,112 children ages 4 through 11 from the National Survey of Families and Households, the study tested the hypotheses that the association between the frequency of spanking and subsequent child aggression would be stronger for older versus younger children, boys versus girls, whites versus blacks, and siagle-mother versus mother-father families. Results from structural equation models of main effects indicated significant group differences in children's self-reported fighting by age and race. Spanking predicted fewer fights for children ages 4 to 7 and for blacks, and more fights for children ages 8 to 11 and for whites. The study also tested a model wherein a positive association between spanking and aggression emerges at younger ages for boys, whites, and children in single-mother homes. These attributes were employed as proxies for lower levels of parental control and/or control maintained through punitive means. Investigations of potential interactions between age, gender, race, and family structure using ordinary least squares regression yielded the earliest and strongest positive associations between spanking and fighting for white boys in single-mother homes. (Contains 15 references.) (Author/EV)
A sample of high school age mothers was followed from 1988 to 1994 in order to examine factors associated with having a second teen birth or a closely spaced second birth. The study incorporates a life-course perspective. Factors associated with postponing a subsequent birth include characteristics measured prior to the first birth, at the time of the first birth, and after the first birth. Analyses suggest that a combination of young teen mothers staying in school, living at home with their parents, and (among older teen mothers) being engaged in educational or work activities might help reduce the risk of a second untimely birth. Those teenage mothers who were able to complete their high school diploma, or even their GED, were less likely to have a second teen birth.
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