Parenting Skills and Child Maltreatment: The Role of Parents' Beliefs in the Use of Physical Discipline in a Parenting Group Intervention Among Chinese Immigrant Parents

Background and Purpose:

Largely due to the disruptions in their social support network as well as the stress and struggles in their own life, many immigrant parents rely on their traditional practices of child discipline, including physical discipline, especially in dealing with their children's behavior problems. Meanwhile, few interventions have been designed to help immigrant parents improve parenting skills and reduce child maltreatment, taking into account the role of parents' beliefs in the use of physical discipline such as spanking. This study examined the impact of a parenting group intervention, an 8-week social group model that was designed and implemented among Chinese immigrant parents to provide culturally enriched support and help parents address the issue of physical discipline, improve their parenting skills, and cope with their children's behavioral issues.

Methods:

Using a convenience sampling method, this study recruited Chinese immigrant parents in New York City who were concerned by their children's behavior problems. Parents were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group, with pre- and post-test data collected in both groups. The sample for analysis included 128 parents. Parenting skills were measured by parents' self-efficacy in parenting and parental warmth. Parents' beliefs in use of physical discipline were measured by their beliefs regarding the effectiveness and acceptability of physical punishment. Child maltreatment was measured by psychological aggression, physical assault, and neglect. OLS regressions were conducted, controlling for parent, child, and household characteristics. A mediation analysis was further conducted to examine whether the reduction in child maltreatment could be attributed to increased parenting skills and reduced beliefs in the use of physical discipline.

Results:

Results of preliminary analysis showed that, compared to parents in the control group, those in the parenting group intervention had significantly higher parenting skills (with effect sizes of 0.21 on self-efficacy and 0.40 on parental warmth) and lower scores on beliefs in the use of physical discipline (with effect size of -0.44). The intervention also significantly reduced the frequencies of child maltreatment, including psychological aggression, physical assault, and neglect (with effect sizes ranging from -0.60 to -0.22). A mediation analysis showed that approximately 12% to 25% of the reduction in child maltreatment measures could be attributed to increased parenting skills and decreased parents' beliefs in the use of physical discipline, while increased parenting skills helped change parents' belief in the use of physical discipline and, as a result, reduced child maltreatment.

Conclusions and Implications:

This parenting group intervention was developed and implemented by clinical social workers based on their long-time work experiences with Chinese immigrants in their own communities. Implemented in a group setting, this model had low cost, especially compared to individual and family counseling, and can be easily expended to other social service agencies through the training of group leaders and facilitators. The findings can inform researchers, social workers, and other practitioners about providing culturally enriched support and services to reduce child maltreatment through increasing parents' parenting skills and changing their beliefs in the use of physical discipline in the Chinese immigrant community.