Self-reports of corporal punishment by Xhosa children from broken and intact families and their academic achievement.

The association of corporal punishment reported by 1021 pupils (369 boys and 652 girls) and their academic achievement was investigated. The sample included 242 children whose parents were divorced or separated and 713 children whose parents were neither divorced nor separated. Subjects were between 13 and 17 years old, with a mean age of 15.6 yr. They were chosen at random from the Standard 7/Year 9 population of Transkei, South Africa. A questionnaire yielded recalled frequencies of parental punishment. Analysis of variance indicated a significant negative association between parental punishment and academic achievement.