NCJ Number
205864
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 25 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2001 Pages: 473-488
Date Published
April 2001
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study examined preschoolers' perceptions of the unfairness of their mother's discipline.
Abstract
The participants' gender, age, socioeconomic status, family intactness, and number of brothers and/or sisters were examined for their relevance to such perceptions. The children (n=57) were presented with 5 vignettes that described forms of discipline that the literature suggest constitute psychological maltreatment. Types of discipline were excessive withdrawal of privileges, withdrawal of entertainment, differential treatment of siblings, threatening power assertion, and public humiliation. The children were asked to judge the fairness or unfairness of the discipline in each vignette, and they were asked to explain their choices of discipline they believed to be fair. Of the five forms of discipline used in the vignettes, the children deemed the differential treatment of siblings to be more unfair than either power assertion (threatening spanking) or public humiliation. No differences were found in children's view of withdrawal of privileges or entertainment. Of the various predictor variables used, preschoolers from smaller families were more likely to consider threatening to spank the child as being unfair. Compared to boys, girls and children from larger families were more likely to consider differential treatment unfair. Age, socioeconomic status, and family intactness had no effect on judgment about discipline. The findings indicate that preschool children have developed standards of fairness regarding various types of discipline, while recognizing that discipline in itself is part of the parental function. 5 tables, 1 figure, and 28 references