Physical Punishment: Child gender

[differenceblog]

Are parents more likely to use physical punishment on boys or girls? Most studies use spanking as their basis for questioning. Grogan-Kaylor and Otis (2007) found, based on data from a 2000 survey, that child gender did not affect the likelihood of getting spanked. On the other hand, Day et al (1998) found that boys were more likely than girls

Comments

[mbigmistake]

I've never been spanked. My two older brothers (who were 8 and 10 years older) did get spanked when they were young (though I never saw them spanked...they were in junior high by the time I was old enough to witness and remember, which seems older than when most spankings occur). I don't know if the difference was:
1. They did more stuff wrong (they did)
2. Social norms changed between when they were little and I was
3. My parents learned new ways to deal
4. The boy/girl thing

[astrogeek01]

gyah, jeez, just reading that makes me cringe. I'm glad you're still around!

[feministyogini]

I'd always heard that boys are punished more physically than girls. So...hmmm....

[differenceblog]

*shrug* well, Day agrees with you. I poked at the methods for both studies, and I couldn't find one that looked more valid than the other, and the samples looked equally representative as well.

I don't know how to interpret this one.

[beckiemoriello]

Of one family I know whose kids got hit, of the 2 boys and 2 girls, 1 of the boys got it the worst. His sister's hypothesis is that it's because he would blatantly ignore the punishment, ie. "So what, I'm gonna do it anyway and you can't stop me."

I don't know if you'd call that rebelliousness or what, or if it's a trait more often found in boys.

[deese]

That made me laugh, due to the old chestnut about "Why don't you go play in traffic!" Sounds like one of the neighborhood kids took that recommendation a bit too seriously (as I'm sure this wasn't an idea you came up with at the tender age of 5.)

Also, I got spanked once as well, and for a similar reason at a similar age. I think I was about 5, & the boy next door convinced me to walk 4 blocks away from home with him to see a friend of his. We ended up at a house next to a local highway, and his friend wasn't home, but the woman who lived there recognized I was too far from home, and called my mother. I got spanked, by my mother, but I don't remember it. In contrast to your statistics, I don't think my brother ever got spanked.