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How are parental practices and attitudes towards corporal punishment related to child academic, developmental, or psychological–emotional dysfunctioning?

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Abstract

Corporal punishment (CP) is a widely spread disciplining practice among parents and caregivers globally. Our paper aimed to explore the relationship between the parental attitudes towards CP, expected outcomes of CP, and parenting practices on one hand, with the reported dysfunctions of their children, on the other. Additionally, we aimed to explore the relationship between the use of CP and the reported academic, developmental, and psychological–emotional dysfunctions of their children. The present study involved a nationally representative sample of 1186 parents in Serbia, who had at least one child aged 0–18 years at the moment of interviewing. The parents filled out a series of questionnaires on their attitudes towards CP, expectations of CP outcomes, and their parental practices. Findings indicate that parents that report having a child with dysfunctions have positive attitudes towards CP and expect positive outcomes of CP. These parents also report using more CP as a disciplining method, as well as other harsh disciplining practices. We also identified parental positive expectations of CP, use of physical assault, psychological aggression, neglect as significant predictors of reported child dysfunctions severity. Having all the results in mind, we can assume that children with health-related and school-related issues might be at potential risk of further maltreatment.

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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request (Supplementary file).

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Acknowledgements

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Funding

This research was supported and financed by UNICEF Office in Serbia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Mental Health, Milana Kasanina 3, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    Roberto Grujicic, Vanja Mandic-Maravic, Marija Mitkovic-Voncina, Jelena Radosavljev-Kircanski & Milica Pejovic Milovancevic

  2. Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

    Ljiljana B. Lazarević & Marina Videnović

  3. Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

    Vanja Mandic-Maravic, Marija Mitkovic-Voncina, Tatjana Pekmezovic & Milica Pejovic Milovancevic

  4. Institute for Educational Research, Belgrade, Serbia

    Ana Radanović

  5. Laboratory for Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

    Oliver Toskovic

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  1. Roberto Grujicic
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Contributions

RG, OT and MPM designed the study, performed the literature search, and wrote the first draft. OT performed the statistical analysis. RG, AR, OT were involved in the recruitment of the participants. LL, MV, AR, OT, and RG participated in interviewing, and data collection. MMV, VMM, TP, MPM, LL, MV, and J.R.K. supervised the research, reviewed the manuscript, and gave critical comments on the manuscript. All authors reviewed, approved the final version, and gave their consent for publishing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Milica Pejovic Milovancevic.

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Grujicic, R., Toskovic, O., Lazarević, L.B. et al. How are parental practices and attitudes towards corporal punishment related to child academic, developmental, or psychological–emotional dysfunctioning?. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 32, 2175–2185 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-022-02061-z

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