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Effects of Gender on Parental Attitudes Toward Punishment of Children. By Lindsay Ludwig and Amanda Nocton Hanover College. Parental gender and spanking . Parents punish child of same sex more: Rothbart and Maccoby (1966) Herzberger and Tennen (1985)
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Effects of Gender on Parental Attitudes Toward Punishment of Children By Lindsay Ludwig and Amanda Nocton Hanover College
Parental gender and spanking • Parents punish child of same sex more: • Rothbart and Maccoby (1966) • Herzberger and Tennen (1985) • Parents show no difference in discipline: • Holden, Miller, and Harris (1999) • Lytton and Romney (1991)
Child gender and punishment • Boys punished more often: • Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) • Bezirganian and Cohen (1992)
Research question • Is there a difference in type of punishment enforced by parents based on both parental gender and child gender? • How does the type of infraction influence the punishment received? • Flynn (1998)
Hypotheses • There will be a gender difference. • Explore effects of gender of parents across types of punishment. • Male children will receive harsher punishments than their female counterparts. • When a child’s infractions cause harm to themselves or others they will receive more punishment than if their infractions reflect general disrespect.
Variables • Two independent variables of gender (2 levels each—male and female): • Gender of participant • Gender of child (manipulated) • Type of infraction (IV) • Type of punishment (DV)
Method • Online study • Informed Consent • Demographics • Instructions/scenario • List of infractions and punishments • Debriefing form
Instructions that participants received Suppose that you have an 8-year-old son/daughter who commits each of the following infractions after having been warned previously not to. Choose the likelihood that you would use each of the punishments from 0-3 (o not at all, 1 maybe, 2 probably, 3 definitely). Please be sure to assign a number for each punishment under every infraction.
Participants • Recruitment • Criteria for deletion • Total N=224 • Male N=61 • Female N=163 • Parent? • Yes N=103 • No N=121
Nature of Analysis • 2 (gender of participant) x 2 (gender of child) x 3 (type of punishment) x 9 (type of infraction) mixed ANOVA • Between-subjects • Within-subjects
Discussion • Exploration of parent gender. • Evidence is mixed, fathers more likely to spank, mothers more likely to verbally reprimand • Maintaining gender roles • Negative implications • Hypothesis 2 looked at child gender. • Was mostly supported, two infractions were significant • Weaker than expected • Hypothesis 3 dealt with infraction • Was not supported
Discussion cont. • Limitations: • Child gender • Self-report • Future Research: • Bullying and teasing • Lying