Parental use of and attitude towards corporal punishment in Dessie, Ethiopia

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to assess parental usage of and attitude towards corporal punishment. To achieve this purpose, the study utilized a cross-sectional survey design. Using a self-administered questionnaire, quantitative data were gathered from 544 (287M, 257F) participants who were selected using stratified random sampling technique. Frequencies, chi-square, independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, logistic regression, and multiple regressions were used to analyze and make meaning of the data. The result indicated that corporal punishment is highly prevalent and frequent in the current sample. The majority of parents (80%) reported they used corporal punishment on their children within the past 12 months, and most of them used it frequently. The responses given to each statement of the attitude scale indicated that the majority of the participants of the study have favourable attitude towards the use of corporal punishment. The most common types of punishment used by parents were found to be knocking on the head (90%), pinching between the thighs (89%), slapping on the face with an open hand (87), beating the arm, buttock, or leg with an open hand (81%), and beating with an object (80%). With respect to type of child misbhaviours, a large number of parents reported that they always used corporal punishment on their children for engaging in behaviours such as disobedience, lying, stealing, playing with dangerous objects, and quarrelling with siblings or other children. The study used an ecological approach to examine how multiple factors are related to parental use of and attitude toward corporal punishment. Accordingly, the result indicated that boys and younger children experience more frequent corporal punishment. Likewise, corporal punishment was found to be more prevalent and frequent among parents who were female in sex, younger in age, lower in education level, and those who had larger number of children. It was also indicated that rural residents than urban residents more frequently used corporal punishment. With regard to attitude towards corporal punishment, the study revealed that parents more likely to have positive attitude were female in sex, lower in education level, residents of rural area, and those who had larger number of children. Education level, number of children, place of residence, and gender, were found to be the variables that significantly predicted attitude towards corporal punishment and accounted for about 37% of the variation in attitude. The study also showed that the majority of participants are against the legal banning of either all or sever types of corporal punishment. Theoretically, the study findings provide evidence that the risk factors for the use of and attitude towards corporal punishment can be multi-level.