رابطه بین نگرش نسبت به تنبیه بدنی و ادراک و گزارش بدرفتاری کودک

Objective: This study examined the effect of workers’ attitudes toward corporal punishment on the workers’ perception and reporting of child maltreatment. Three hundred twenty-five (325) potential entry level workers participated in this study. Method: Responding to vignettes in multi-item scales, study participants 1) rated their approval of parental discipline involving corporal punishment; 2) rated the seriousness of incidents of probable maltreatment; and 3) indicated whether or not they would report the incidents of maltreatment to child protective services. Data were analyzed using correlation analyses and multiple regression procedures. Results: 1) Respondents with higher scores for approval of corporal punishment were less likely to perceive maltreatment; 2) respondents with higher scores for approval of corporal punishment were less likely to report maltreatment; 3) the likelihood that a respondent would report maltreatment was a joint function of the respondent’s perception of the seriousness of an incident and approval of corporal punishment. Conclusion: Attitudes about corporal punishment are important predictors of reporting behavior. Social service agencies face a challenge to provide workers with training which will enable them to detect and report maltreatment despite workers’ individual beliefs about discipline and punishment.

The study reported here concerns the attitudes of entry level social service workers toward corporal punishment, and the relationship of those attitudes to 1) the perception of child maltreatment and 2) the reporting of probable maltreatment to child protective services. Federal and state laws require health, education and social service professionals (mandated reporters) to report “a reasonable cause to suspect” child abuse or neglect to either a local office or a central registry of child protective services (National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, 1996). Both Federal and state laws are based on a presumption that workers are knowledgeable about what appropriate parenting is, agree on what constitutes abuse and neglect, and agree on what the consequences for abuse and neglect should be (Davidson, 1995). Contrary to the presumption, research indicates that mandated reporters do not necessarily agree upon what parental behavior should be considered maltreatment Craft et al 1980, Deisz et al 1996, Fox and Dingwall 1985, Giovannoni and Becerra 1979 and Snyder and Newberger 1986. Moreover, mandated reporters do not agree on what action should be taken in response to maltreatment; a follow up study to the latest National Incidence Study on Child Abuse and Neglect (Sedlak & Schultz, 1997) found that nearly one half of the suspected cases of child abuse and neglect that had been identified by professionals were unknown to child protective services. Child maltreatment continues to be a national epidemic National Academy Press 1993, Straus and Gelles 1995 and Wang and Daro 1997. It is important therefore to understand why persons who are mandated to report child maltreatment fail to do so. In order to understand the reporting phenomena it is necessary to identify those factors which affect the decision to report abuse and neglect. Two sets of factors that are thought to influence worker perception regarding the identification and reporting of child maltreatment are case specific characteristics and worker characteristics. A number of empirical studies have identified the presence of particular factors in a case as influences to reporting behavior. Mandated reporters are more likely to perceive an incident of problematic parental behavior as maltreatment and to report it if the case has one or more of the following characteristics: involves physical violence Ards and Harrell 1993, Ashton 1999, Craft and Bettin 1991, Deisz et al 1996, Dukes and Kean 1989, Morris et al 1985, Van Haeringen et al 1998 and Zellman 1992, with risk of imminent harm Ashton 1999, Deisz et al 1996, Silverman et al 1996 and Zellman 1992, to young children Ards and Harrell 1993, Ashton 1999, DePanfilis and Scannapieco 1994, Dukes and Kean 1989, Hutchison 1989, Kalichman and Craig 1991, Morris et al 1985, Van Haeringen et al 1998 and Zellman 1992. However, case characteristics do not completely determine reporting behavior, as a considerable number of incidents involving physical violence with risk of imminent harm to young children go unreported each year Besharov et al 1998 and Sedlak and Broadhurst 1996. The decision to report an incident of suspected maltreatment is ultimately an individual act. Case factors are filtered through the lens of the worker’s personal characteristics such as gender Dukes and Kean 1989, Herzberger and Tennen 1988 and Tilden et al 1994, parenthood status Portwood 1998 and Snyder and Newberger 1986, and attitudes about parenting Morris et al 1985 and Mosek 1991. This study is concerned with worker attitudes toward discipline, particularly attitudes toward corporal punishment. The attitudes that health and social service workers have toward parental discipline using corporal punishment can be expected to affect the way workers respond to potential or actual maltreatment. It is unlikely that workers will interpret a parental behavior as maltreatment if workers view that behavior as normal parenting. The current research focuses on three hypotheses: 1) there is a negative relationship between approval of corporal punishment and the likelihood of reporting probable maltreatment to child protective services; 2) there is a negative relationship between the approval of corporal punishment and the perception of the seriousness of selected problematic parental behavior; and 3) the effect of the approval of corporal punishment on the likelihood of reporting probable maltreatment is mediated by the perception of the seriousness of the parental behavior. Upper level undergraduate college students majoring in professional programs and in the social sciences were selected for this study as they represent the type of beginning workers found in entry level health and social service occupations in urban areas (Kadushin, 1999). Entry level workers serve an important gate-keeping function in protecting children yet little is known of this population’s attitudes and responses toward maltreatment. As eventual workers in the health and human services, and therefore mandated reporters of child maltreatment, the subjects from this study’s sample will face situations requiring an assessment of and response to problematic parental behavior.