Baker-Henningham H, Francis T
School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, LL57 2AS, UK.
Caribbean Institute for Health Research, University of the West Indies, Kingston 7, Jamaica.
Glob Ment Health (Camb). 2018 Oct 12;5:e32. doi: 10.1017/gmh.2018.21. eCollection 2018.
Harsh punishment by parents is common in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), yet there is limited evidence from LMIC of the effects of harsh punishment on child outcomes.
A longitudinal, prospective study was conducted with children with conduct problems to examine the associations between parents' use of harsh punishment during the preschool years on child behaviour and school achievement in grade one of primary school. As part of an efficacy trial in 24 preschools, 225 children with the highest level of teacher-reported conduct problems were evaluated and their parents reported on how often they used harsh punishment. Outcome measures in grade one included child conduct problems by independent observation, teacher and parent report, child social skills by teacher and parent report, direct tests of children's academic achievement and language skills, and tester ratings of child attention and impulse control.
Children had a mean age of 6.92 years and 61% were boys. All parents reported using harsh punishment. After controlling for child age and sex, socio-economic status, parents' involvement with child and maternal education, frequency of harsh punishment was associated with growth in child conduct problems by independent classroom observations ( = 0.037), parent ( = 0.018) and teacher ( = 0.044) report, a reduction in child social skills by teacher ( = 0.024) and parent ( = 0.014) report and poorer attention during the test session ( = 0.049).
The associations between frequency of parents' use of harsh punishment with their preschoolers with conduct problems and later child behaviour indicate a need to train parents in non-violent behaviour management.
在低收入和中等收入国家（LMIC），父母的严厉惩罚很常见，但来自这些国家的关于严厉惩罚对儿童影响的证据有限。
对有行为问题的儿童进行了一项纵向前瞻性研究，以检验学龄前父母使用严厉惩罚与小学一年级儿童行为和学业成绩之间的关联。作为在24所幼儿园进行的一项疗效试验的一部分，对225名教师报告的行为问题程度最高的儿童进行了评估，他们的父母报告了使用严厉惩罚的频率。一年级的结果测量包括通过独立观察、教师和家长报告得出的儿童行为问题，通过教师和家长报告得出的儿童社交技能，儿童学业成绩和语言技能的直接测试以及测试者对儿童注意力和冲动控制的评分。
儿童的平均年龄为6.92岁，61%为男孩。所有父母都报告使用过严厉惩罚。在控制了儿童年龄、性别、社会经济地位、父母对孩子的参与度和母亲教育程度后，严厉惩罚的频率与通过独立课堂观察得出的儿童行为问题增加相关（β = 0.037），与家长报告（β = 0.018）和教师报告（β = 0.044）相关，与教师报告（β = 0.024）和家长报告（β = 0.014）得出的儿童社交技能下降相关，以及与测试期间注意力较差相关（β = 0.049）。
父母对有行为问题的学龄前儿童使用严厉惩罚的频率与儿童后期行为之间的关联表明，需要对父母进行非暴力行为管理培训。
