Investigating Relationships between Drinking Venues, Drinking Companions, and Corporal Punishment of Children

Background and Purpose: Corporal punishment remains common in the United States and is associated with negative behavioral health, mental health, and developmental outcomes for children. Given these potential consequences, it is important to understand parenting behaviors and practices that are associated with increased use of corporal punishment. 

Limited evidence suggests that how often and how much a parent drinks in a particular venue, such as a bar, restaurant, or a friends home, may be associated with use of corporal punishment. However, these relationships could differ depending on a parent's drinking companions (e.g. spouse or friends). Drinking venues can be seen as imparting social norms that influence parents, particularly in venues that encourage interaction with others, such as bars. Drinking companions may follow pre-established relationship norms, which can vary by the venue (i.e. drink only wine at restaurants but liquor at bars). Informed by the ecological-transactional framework of child maltreatment, this study examined whether relationships between venue specific drinking frequency, venue-based continued volumes (quantity of alcohol consumed), and corporal punishment are moderated by drinking companions.    

Methods: A mixed-model sample of parents (n=1,599) nested within 30 mid-size Californian cities was collected.  Parents aged 18 or over with a young child living in their household were invited to participate in a telephone or web-survey via list-assisted telephone recruitment or craiglist.org postings.  Corporal punishment was measured via the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale, while venue-specific drinking measures were used to separate risks associated with drinking frequency and continued volumes at bars, restaurants, and friend homes/parties.  Weighted zero-inflated Poisson models were used with counts of the number of times parents used corporal punishment, controlling for individual and demographic factors.    

Results: Parents who drank frequently at bars used corporal punishment more often, although drinking greater continued volumes was associated with lower risk.   In moderation models, drinking more frequently at bars with spouses was positively associated and drinking higher continued volumes at bars with spouses was negatively associated with frequency of corporal punishment. Drinking frequency at bars and restaurants with friends and higher continued volumes at restaurants with friends was negatively associated with corporal punishment, while drinking higher continued volumes at bars with friends was positively associated.

Conclusion and Implications: Drinking frequently in bars may be uniquely associated with risk for corporal punishment, particularly when parents drink with spouses or drink larger amounts with friends. Spouses who drink together at bars might be jointly exposed to aggressive norms, making it less likely that either parent will intercede against physical discipline of children. Much of the research examining drinking and parenting has focused only on the drinking behaviors of one parent, and not examined how intersections in drinking patterns between parents could impact children. Our finding suggests that more dyad-based investigations into parental drinking could uncover heightened risk. In addition, drinking with friends may have a protective effect in restaurants as compared to drinking without friends. Further qualitative or more nuanced research on drinking venues and drinking companions could provide better understanding of these phenomena.