The Effects of Relatedness, Age and Orphan Status on Discipline

Abstract

Background/Purpose: Many studies discuss child discipline and abuse, but few examine the antecedents that may exist in the child’s environment that might precede violence. Using logistic regression we assessed the level of discipline a child received in the home and whether discipline could be predicted by the child’s relationship to the head of the household, the child’s age, and his or her orphan status. We controlled for attitudes about corporal punishment, domestic violence and parents’ education level. Our sample consisted of 396,209 respondents in five regions of the world

Methods:  Data and samples: Our sample is comprised of respondents who were interviewed during Round Four of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS4), administered in conjunction with UNICEF in Ghana (n=54,453), Iraq (n=239,218), Vietnam (n=45,091), Ukraine (n=34,889), and Costa Rica (n=22,558) between the years of 2009 and 2011.

Measures:

Discipline. Adults were asked to report the various methods of discipline that were used in the home in the past month. Discipline was considered mild if the adult a) took privileges or a well-liked object from the child, b) explained why the child’s behavior was wrong, etc.; medium if the adult a) shook the child, b) spanked the child on the bottom, etc.; and severe if the child was a) struck with an object, b) hit or slapped on the face, head or ears, etc.

Relatedness. Each household member’s relationship to the head of the household was determined by responses to the question “What is (child)’s relationship to the head of the household?”

Orphan Status. Orphanhood was determined by respondents’ yes/no answers to the questions “Is natural mother alive” and “Is natural father alive.”

Results:

Relatedness and Orphan Status. In Ukraine, there was a significant relationship between being a grandchild and receiving less discipline (p<0.01). Though not significant, both Costa Rica and Vietnam also showed reductions in discipline severity administered to a grandchild. The interaction of being an orphan and a grandchild accounted for a discipline reduction at significant levels in Vietnam (p<0.05) and non-significant reductions in Ukraine. Orphans in Iraq received 5% less physical discipline than non-orphans (p<0.05). Being an orphan accounted for a non-significant decrease in discipline severity in Ghana.

Age of Child. Physical punishment increased gradually in all countries except Costa Rica and then decreased significantly at about the age of eight.

Conclusions and Implications:

Orphans, and/or children who were raised by their grandparents received less physical discipline than non-orphaned children who were raised by their parents. A child’s age had significant and consistent effects on how they were disciplined, and attitudes about violence in the home were found to be significant predictors of the level of discipline received by a child. Our results have implications for understanding which child-raising environments (i.e. parental and kin-care) need support to facilitate children receiving appropriate levels of discipline. Our results also imply the need for families to understand how traditional attitudes about violence affect the well being of their children.