Spoil the Rod and Save the Child: Socioeconomic Predictors of Harsh Discipline by Parents, Egyptian Case Study

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to investigate the use of harsh disciplinary methods by parents as corrective techniques for their children, and the resulting behavioral aspects in the affected children. Sociodemographic predictors are tested for estimating the impact of harsh disciplining by parents. A primary survey of a sample of 1,751 children 10 to 12 years of age across 12 provinces of Assiut Governorate in Egypt is considered. The analysis is carried out using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Structural equation modeling is used for testing the significance of the seven predictors. The findings show that harsh disciplining is significantly affected by the age, education level, income level, and marital status of parents. Harsh disciplining is evident for different dimensions: "beating for discipline," "beating while children grow up," "beating with a stick can discipline children," and "children should not be listened to." Some parents believe that beating will help in correcting the behavior of their children and in instilling desirable attitudes in them. This approach has ill effects, but it can only be corrected by addressing the poor economic conditions and education of the parents.

Effect of Children Illness and Hospitalization on Maternal Adopted Disciplinary Strategies

“…The present study findings showed that that more than two fifth of the mothers had mal-disciplinary adopted strategy with higher mean 67.59 ± 8.93 for authoritarian (verbal hostility, corporal punishment and non-reasoning strategies). This is with accordance to Mohammed and Samak [15] results who studied the disciplinary actions in upper Egypt and found that harsh discipline is evidential in all the studied sample of children. The second disciplinary strategy adopted by mothers in this study was authoritative These findings goes on with those of Cyril, Halliday, Green, and Renzaho [16]as in their study of relationship between body mass index and parenting style, the authoritative parenting style was the second most frequently used style by parents of children in the study.…”

“…In addition to that, Mohammed, and Samak [15] highlighted the strong significant correlation found between the harsh discipline of upper Egyptian children and their parents' age, level of education, income, and marital status. However, Socolar, Savage and Evans [22] concluded that the incidence of corporal punishment peaks when the age of the child is 4 to 8 years old.…”

“…On the contrary, Mohammed, and Samak [15] found that harsh disciplining is evident among parents of Egyptian children who believed that beating will instill desirable children's behavior.…”

“…or "explain the consequences of the child's behavior to him/her or give the child reasons why rules should be obeyed" or " take into account child's preferences in making family plan". In a survey done by Mohammed, and Samak [15] ona sample of 1,751 children 10 to 12 years of age across 12 provinces of Assiut Governorate in Egypt parents stated that "children should not be listened to.". Evidence of research is against the neglecting of the child positive reinforcement as well as dealing with children as being things rather than human beings.…”

The ripple effect: a cross-sectional study on the repercussions of child maltreatment among Egyptian college students

“…According to Elghossain et al [6], Egypt had the highest rate of CM in the Arab region (91%). The deep-rooted cultural model of parental discipline, which includes physically chastising and yelling, legitimizes the use of violence against children [7]. According to the latest nationally representative population survey in Egypt, 93% of children between ages 1 and 14 were exposed to violent disciplinary practices at some point during their childhood.…”