Individual, family, and culture level contributions to child physical abuse and neglect: A longitudinal study in nine countries
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Publication Date
2015-11Author
Jennifer E Lansford, Jennifer Godwin, Liliana Maria Uribe Tirado, Arnaldo Zelli, Suha M Al-Hassan, Dario Bacchini, Anna Silvia Bombi, Marc H Bornstein, Lei Chang, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Laura Di Giunta, Kenneth A Dodge, Patrick S Malone, Paul Oburu, Concetta Pastorelli, Ann T Skinner, Emma Sorbring, Sombat Tapanya, Liane Peña Alampay
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Show full item recordAbstract/ Overview
This study advances understanding of predictors of child abuse and neglect at multiple levels of
influence. Mothers, fathers, and children (N = 1,432 families, M age of children = 8.29 years)
were interviewed annually in three waves in 13 cultural groups in nine countries (China,
Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). Multilevel
models were estimated to examine predictors of (a) within-family differences across the three time
points, (b) between-family within-culture differences, and (c) between-cultural group differences
in mothers’ and fathers’ reports of corporal punishment and children’s reports of their parents’
neglect. These analyses addressed to what extent mothers’ and fathers’ use of corporal punishment
and children’s perceptions of their parents’ neglect were predicted by parents’ belief in the
necessity of using corporal punishment, parents’ perception of the normativeness of corporal
punishment in their community, parents’ progressive parenting attitudes, parents’ endorsement of
aggression, parents’ education, children’s externalizing problems, and children’s internalizing
problems at each of the three levels. Individual-level predictors (especially child externalizing
behaviors) as well as cultural-level predictors (especially normativeness of corporal punishment in
the community) predicted corporal punishment and neglect. Findings are framed in an
international context that considers how abuse and neglect are defined by the global community
and how countries have attempted to prevent abuse and neglect.
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- Department of Psychology [203]