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Assessing Dimensions of Parental Discipline

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Abstract

This study examines the advisability to distinguish dimensions of discipline, by evaluating the Dimensions of Discipline Inventory (DDI, Straus and Fauchier 2007) in a sample of Belgian undergraduate students (N = 371) who retrospectively reported on their mothers’ and fathers’ discipline behaviors aimed at correcting child misbehavior at age 10. First, confirmatory factor analyses showed that a model with nine factors fitted the data best, but also a model with four second-order factors was acceptable. Second, a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis with a Belgian and a U.S. sample (N = 633) provided additional evidence for the nine-factor structure. Correlations between DDI scales and other parenting related variables demonstrated meaningful relations. Additionally, some DDI subscales were associated with measures of current problem behavior. To conclude, the present study illustrated that it is both useful and possible to differentiate between discipline constructs.

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Acknowledgments

The current study is part of the International Parenting Study (http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mas2/IPS.htm).

This research was supported by the Research Foundation–Flanders (FWO), in the form of a travel grant for a long study stay abroad, awarded to the first author.

We want to express our appreciation to Bart Soenens and Björn Comhaire for their help in the translation and the backtranslation of the DDI.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Parenting and Special Education Research Group, K. U. Leuven, Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 32, box 3765, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Karla G. Van Leeuwen

  2. Family Research Laboratory, University of New Hamphire, Durham, NH, USA

    Angèle Fauchier & Murray A. Straus

Authors
  1. Karla G. Van Leeuwen
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  2. Angèle Fauchier
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  3. Murray A. Straus
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Correspondence to Karla G. Van Leeuwen.

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Van Leeuwen, K.G., Fauchier, A. & Straus, M.A. Assessing Dimensions of Parental Discipline. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 34, 216–231 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-012-9278-5

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