Citation

Kennedy JH. Educ. Treat. Child. 1995; 18(1): 53-64.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, West Virginia University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with the use of corporal punishment in schools. It was hypothesized that education, experience with children, and a history of receiving corporal punishment would be related to attitudes about the effectiveness and reports of the use of corporal punishment. Teachers, student teachers, paraprofessionals, and college students residing in a region where corporal punishment in the schools is authorized at both the State Department level and locally completed a questionnaire that asked participants to respond to six scenarios describing a misbehaving child with regard to seriousness of the transgression, severity of punishment that would be appropriate, and generalizability of the appropriateness of the behavior in other settings. They were also asked to rate the effectiveness and frequency of their use of corporal punishment. Overall, paraprofessionals were more likely to favor using corporal punishment than were other individuals. The most important predictor for the use of corporal punishment was a history of corporal punishment administered by parents, especially for paraprofessionals. This suggests that a more extensive support system (e.g., mentors, modeling, in-service training) be provided for the learning and maintenance of positive classroom management techniques for classroom educators.

Language: en