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Discipline Techniques

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Abstract

Raising healthy children includes promoting an increase in socially appropriate behaviors (e.g., saying “please,” and “thank you,” apologizing) and a decrease in inappropriate ones (e.g., physical aggression, refusing to share). Parents’ responses to these behaviors over time—collectively referred to as discipline—teach children to differentiate between the two types of behaviors. Discipline researchers utilize various terms that can confuse nonspecialists. The term “discipline” itself is commonly misunderstood as a reference to punishment. In fact, within the literature discipline refers to both reinforcement of behavior (e.g., praise, hugs, sticker charts for small prizes, nagging that stops when the child completes the desired behavior) and punishment (e.g., stern looks, yelling, time-out, spanking). Parents want to know what discipline techniques to use and when their children’s inappropriate behaviors exceed those of normative development and require additional intervention. Researchers and non-researchers vigorously debate the efficacy and safety of various discipline methods. This chapter reviews the literature on spanking, verbal punishment, time-outs, and discipline practices that eschew punishment of any kind. We conclude with the four parenting styles that more precisely reflect the context in which discipline occurs, replacing the overly simplified strict versus lenient continuum.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Child Study Center, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, New York, USA

    Christina A. Di Bartolo

  2. Department of Pediatrics, The Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, New York, USA

    Maureen K. Braun

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  1. Christina A. Di Bartolo
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  2. Maureen K. Braun
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Correspondence to Christina A. Di Bartolo .

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Di Bartolo, C.A., Braun, M.K. (2017). Discipline Techniques. In: Pediatrician's Guide to Discussing Research with Patients. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49547-7_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49547-7_9

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-49547-7

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