تنبیه بدنی و بدرفتاری فیزیکی علیه کودکان: مطالعه جامعه در پدر و مادر چینی در هنگ کنگ

Objective This study aimed to examine rates and associated factors of parent-to-child corporal punishment and physical maltreatment in Hong Kong Chinese families. Method Cross-sectional and randomized household interviews were conducted with 1,662 Chinese parents to collect information on demographic characteristics of parents and children, marital satisfaction, perceived social support, evaluation of child problem behaviors, and reactions to conflicts with children. Descriptive statistics, analyses of variances, and logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results The rates of parent-to-child physical aggression were 57.5% for corporal punishment and 4.5% for physical maltreatment. Mothers as compared to fathers reported higher rates and more frequent use of corporal punishment on their children, but this parental gender effect was insignificant among older parents and those with adolescent children. Boys as compared to girls were more likely to experience higher rates and more frequent parental corporal punishment, especially in middle childhood at aged 5–12. Furthermore, parents perpetrated more frequent physical maltreatment on younger as compared to older children. Results from logistic regression analyses indicated that significant correlates of parental corporal punishment were: children's young age, male gender, and externalizing behaviors as well as parents’ young age, non-employment, and marital dissatisfaction. For parent-to-child physical maltreatment, significant correlates were externalizing behaviors of children and parental marital dissatisfaction. Conclusions Hong Kong Chinese parents commonly used corporal punishment on their children, which was associated with characteristics of children, parents, and family.

Children throughout the world experience various forms of violence, which mostly occur in the family context (World Health Organization, 2002). Researchers have argued that corporal punishment and physical maltreatment should be considered as two separate aspects of parental physical aggression (Straus, 1994; Straus, Hamby, Finkelhor, Moore, & Runyan, 1998; Whipple & Richey, 1997). According to Straus et al. (1998), corporal punishment is defined as the use of physical force to inflict pain, but not injury, in disciplining children or controlling children's undesirable behaviors. Physical maltreatment refers to parents’ use of physical violence to inflict pain and injury on their children, which is more severe than that allowed by laws for disciplining children. This study aimed to determine rates and associated factors of corporal punishment and physical maltreatment against children among Hong Kong Chinese parents.

For the entire sample, rates were 57.5% for corporal punishment and 4.5% for physical maltreatment. About 10% of the respondents who reported using corporal punishment also engaged in physical maltreatment against their children; and almost all respondents (98%) who reported child physical maltreatment also used corporal punishment on the same children in the past 12 months. In general, significantly more mothers than fathers used corporal punishment against their children (60.6% vs. 50.7%, p < .005); and significantly more boys than girls received corporal punishment (60.7% vs. 53.9%, p < .01; Table 1). There was no significant parent and child gender difference in the occurrence of parental physical maltreatment (p > .05). The rates for the two subtypes of parental physical aggression were further broken down according to the age of the target children and gender of parents (Table 2). In particular, significant age group differences were noted for corporal punishment and physical punishment for boys (p < .005). Results showed that rates were the highest among boys aged 2–4 and 5–8 for parental corporal punishment and among boys aged 9–12 for parental physical maltreatment. For girls, significant age group differences were found for parental corporal punishment only (p < .005), with the highest rate among girls aged 2–4 and 5–8. Adolescent boys and girls (aged 13–17) had the lowest rates of parental corporal punishment and physical maltreatment. Logistic regression analyses were conducted separately for corporal punishment and physical maltreatment, and results are summarized in Table 3. Significant factors for predicting corporal punishment were: children's young age and male gender, parental young age and non-employment status, parental marital dissatisfaction, and children's externalizing behaviors. For physical maltreatment, significant factors were parental marital dissatisfaction and children's externalizing behaviors. Odds ratio suggested that higher rates of parental physical aggression were found in male as compared to female children, younger as compared to older children and parents, non-employed as compared to employed parents, parents reporting lower as compared to higher levels of marital satisfaction, and children with higher as compared to lower levels of externalizing behaviors.