The relationship between attitudes toward corporal punishment and the perception and reporting of child maltreatment☆, ☆☆, ★1

Pergamon Child Abuse & Neglect 25 (2001) 389 –399

The relationship between attitudes toward corporal punishment and the perception and reporting of child maltreatment夞, 夞夞, 多 Vicki Ashton York College of the City University of New York, Department of Social Sciences, Room 3A11, Jamaica, NY 11451, USA Received 15 February 2000; received in revised form 11 July 2000; accepted 18 July 2000

Abstract Objective: This study examined the effect of workers’ attitudes toward corporal punishment on the workers’ perception and reporting of child maltreatment. Three hundred twenty-five (325) potential entry level workers participated in this study. Method: Responding to vignettes in multi-item scales, study participants 1) rated their approval of parental discipline involving corporal punishment; 2) rated the seriousness of incidents of probable maltreatment; and 3) indicated whether or not they would report the incidents of maltreatment to child protective services. Data were analyzed using correlation analyses and multiple regression procedures. Results: 1) Respondents with higher scores for approval of corporal punishment were less likely to perceive maltreatment; 2) respondents with higher scores for approval of corporal punishment were less likely to report maltreatment; 3) the likelihood that a respondent would report maltreatment was a joint function of the respondent’s perception of the seriousness of an incident and approval of corporal punishment. Conclusion: Attitudes about corporal punishment are important predictors of reporting behavior. Social service agencies face a challenge to provide workers with training which will enable them to detect and report maltreatment despite workers’ individual beliefs about discipline and punishment. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Attitudes and corporal punishment; Discipline and maltreatment

夞 This research was supported by a grant from The City University of New York PSC-CUNY Research Award Program. 夞夞 Portions of this study were presented at the Fourth Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, January 29 –31, 2000, Charleston, SC. 多 Requests for the scales used in this study should be addressed to Vicki Ashton, D.S.W., York College of The City University of New York, Department of Social Sciences, Room 3A11, Jamaica, NY 11451 [[email protected]]. 0145-2134/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 1 4 5 - 2 1 3 4 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 2 5 8 - 1

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Introduction The study reported here concerns the attitudes of entry level social service workers toward corporal punishment, and the relationship of those attitudes to 1) the perception of child maltreatment and 2) the reporting of probable maltreatment to child protective services. Federal and state laws require health, education and social service professionals (mandated reporters) to report “a reasonable cause to suspect” child abuse or neglect to either a local office or a central registry of child protective services (National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, 1996). Both Federal and state laws are based on a presumption that workers are knowledgeable about what appropriate parenting is, agree on what constitutes abuse and neglect, and agree on what the consequences for abuse and neglect should be (Davidson, 1995). Contrary to the presumption, research indicates that mandated reporters do not necessarily agree upon what parental behavior should be considered maltreatment (Craft, Epley, & Clarkson, 1980; Deisz, Doueck, George, & Levine, 1996; Fox & Dingwall, 1985; Giovannoni & Becerra, 1979; Snyder & Newberger, 1986). Moreover, mandated reporters do not agree on what action should be taken in response to maltreatment; a follow up study to the latest National Incidence Study on Child Abuse and Neglect (Sedlak & Schultz, 1997) found that nearly one half of the suspected cases of child abuse and neglect that had been identified by professionals were unknown to child protective services. Child maltreatment continues to be a national epidemic (National Academy Press, 1993; Straus & Gelles, 1995; Wang & Daro, 1997). It is important therefore to understand why persons who are mandated to report child maltreatment fail to do so. In order to understand the reporting phenomena it is necessary to identify those factors which affect the decision to report abuse and neglect. Two sets of factors that are thought to influence worker perception regarding the identification and reporting of child maltreatment are case specific characteristics and worker characteristics. A number of empirical studies have identified the presence of particular factors in a case as influences to reporting behavior. Mandated reporters are more likely to perceive an incident of problematic parental behavior as maltreatment and to report it if the case has one or more of the following characteristics: involves physical violence (Ards & Harrell, 1993; Ashton, 1999; Craft & Bettin, 1991; Deisz, Doueck, George, & Levine, 1996; Dukes & Kean, 1989; Morris, Johnson, & Clasen, 1985; Van Haeringen, Dadds, & Armstrong, 1998; Zellman, 1992), with risk of imminent harm (Ashton, 1999; Deisz, Doueck, George, & Levine, 1996; Silverman, Reinherz, & Giaconia, 1996; Zellman, 1992), to young children (Ards & Harrell, 1993; Ashton, 1999; DePanfilis & Scannapieco, 1994; Dukes & Kean, 1989; Hutchison, 1989; Kalichman & Craig, 1991; Morris, Johnson, & Clasen, 1985; Van Haeringen, Dadds, & Armstrong, 1998; Zellman, 1992). However, case characteristics do not completely determine reporting behavior, as a considerable number of incidents involving physical violence with risk of imminent harm to young children go unreported each year (Besharov, Lowry, Pelton, & Weber, 1998; Sedlak & Broadhurst, 1996). The decision to report an incident of suspected maltreatment is ultimately an individual

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act. Case factors are filtered through the lens of the worker’s personal characteristics such as gender (Dukes & Kean, 1989; Herzberger & Tennen, 1988; Tilden, Schmidt, Limandri, Chiodo, Garland, & Loveless, 1994), parenthood status (Portwood, 1998; Snyder & Newberger, 1986), and attitudes about parenting (Morris, Johnson, & Clasen, 1985; Mosek, 1991). This study is concerned with worker attitudes toward discipline, particularly attitudes toward corporal punishment. The attitudes that health and social service workers have toward parental discipline using corporal punishment can be expected to affect the way workers respond to potential or actual maltreatment. It is unlikely that workers will interpret a parental behavior as maltreatment if workers view that behavior as normal parenting. The current research focuses on three hypotheses: 1) there is a negative relationship between approval of corporal punishment and the likelihood of reporting probable maltreatment to child protective services; 2) there is a negative relationship between the approval of corporal punishment and the perception of the seriousness of selected problematic parental behavior; and 3) the effect of the approval of corporal punishment on the likelihood of reporting probable maltreatment is mediated by the perception of the seriousness of the parental behavior. Upper level undergraduate college students majoring in professional programs and in the social sciences were selected for this study as they represent the type of beginning workers found in entry level health and social service occupations in urban areas (Kadushin, 1999). Entry level workers serve an important gate-keeping function in protecting children yet little is known of this population’s attitudes and responses toward maltreatment. As eventual workers in the health and human services, and therefore mandated reporters of child maltreatment, the subjects from this study’s sample will face situations requiring an assessment of and response to problematic parental behavior.

Method There are three variables of interest in this study: one, the general “likelihood of reporting suspected maltreatment to child protective services;” two, the “perception of seriousness of problematic parental behavior” which is used here as an indicator for the perception of maltreatment; and three, the “approval of corporal punishment.” Approval of corporal punishment is defined as the endorsement of the parental use of physical actions to discipline children (Danso, Hunsberger, & Pratt, 1997). Such actions include spanking, slapping, pinching, physically restraining, or removing a child. Child maltreatment refers to the neglect or abuse of a child under the age of 18. Negligence is defined as the failure of a parent to exercise a minimum degree of care for a child (Social Services Law, 1992). Abuse is defined as a situation in which a parent or guardian inflicts or allows to be inflicted non-accidental physical injury which causes or creates the risk of death, or serious physical disfigurement, or physical or emotional impairment to a child (Social Services Law, 1992). Abuse has been conceptualized by some as corporal punishment carried too far (Whipple & Richey, 1997).

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Design This investigation was a cross sectional study of students attending two urban colleges. The data for this research were collected in a survey which incorporated case vignettes. The study was reviewed and approved by the institutional review boards of both colleges where the data were collected. The survey instrument was a self-administered questionnaire completed during class. With the instructor’s permission, the author invited students in upper level classes in business, social work, health professions and social sciences, to complete the questionnaire. Students were advised that their participation was voluntary and anonymous (the instructor was not present during the survey). Most of the students invited to participate did so, with fewer than 10% declining. Sample The sample consisted of 325 undergraduate students enrolled in two urban public colleges. The students were typically seniors and were registered in the following college majors: business, social work, health professions, and the social sciences. The students were predominately women of color (70%). The mean age for the sample was 33; the youngest person was 17; the oldest, 59. Most of the sample (59%) were single; 55% had children. Close to two thirds of the sample reported an annual household income of less than $45,000. It may appear questionable to include business majors in the sample, as they are not identified readily with the social services. Yet, it has been documented that a substantial percentage of entry level workers in child welfare services hold undergraduate degrees in business (James Satterwhite Academy for Child Welfare Training, 1993). Moreover, human service agencies increasingly look to business schools for competent managers (Moran, Frans, & Gibson, 1995). Measurement The variable “the perception of the seriousness of problematic parental behavior” is used here as an indicator of the perception of maltreatment. It was measured by a multi-item additive scale consisting of 12 vignettes adapted from the work of Hong and Hong (1991) and Sebes (1986) and from cases known to the local child protective service agency. Each vignette described a parent’s potentially abusive or negligent behavior toward a child. Each vignette included either physical violence or neglect, with risk of imminent harm, to young children. A sample vignette from the scale is “An 8 year-old wets the bed. Parents punish child by immersing her in a tub of hot water.” Prior to administering the questionnaire, the vignettes were tested for face content validity as portraying problematic parental behavior by a panel of professionals. The test included the 12 vignettes of problematic parental behavior included in the scale and three vignettes that were constructed not to reflect problematic levels of parental behavior and which were not included in the scale. The panel of professionals was asked to rate each vignette on a scale of 0 to 6, according to the extent to which each item reflected the definition of maltreatment

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which was provided to the panel. A “0” indicates that the item does not reflect the definition of maltreatment at all; a “6” indicates that the item strongly reflects the definition of maltreatment. Means for the 12 problematic behaviors ranged from 4.1 to 6. Means for nonproblematic behaviors ranged from 2.5 to 3.6. The results of the panel testing indicated that the cases used in the scale depict situations and behaviors that, at face value, present a suspicion of child maltreatment. For this study, survey respondents were asked to read each vignette and rate the seriousness of each incident on a scale of 1 to 7, with “1” being “not serious” and “7” being “very serious.” The scores were added across the vignettes for the measure of the variable. The internal consistency for the scale is .79 (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient). The same 12 vignettes described above were used also as the basis for a multi-item additive scale measuring the variable, the general “likelihood of reporting suspected maltreatment to child protective services.” Survey respondents were asked to read each vignette and indicate what action they would take regarding the incident described in the vignette. Respondents selected one of three alternatives a) nothing needs to be done; b) the family should be encouraged to seek professional help; or c) child protective services should be notified to investigate and protect the child. The likelihood of reporting each of the incidents was determined by respondents indicating which action they would take. Responses were dichotomized into “report” (alternative “c”) and “do not report” (alternatives “a” and “b”). The scores were added together across the 12 items to produce a single score reflecting the “likelihood of reporting.” The internal consistency of the scale is .74 (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient). The study’s focus was on the relationship between the approval of corporal punishment and the perception and reporting of child maltreatment. “Approval of corporal punishment” was measured by a multi-item additive scale. The scale consists of nine vignettes briefly describing a child’s misbehavior and the parent’s discipline. Corporal punishment items include parental actions of a slap on the hand, a spanking, a pinch, a shove, and a slap in the mouth. A sample vignette from the corporal punishment scale is “Child is caught taking money from parent’s wallet. Parent slaps child’s hand.” The corporal punishment vignettes differ from the vignettes of problematic behavior, described above, in that the parent’s reaction, although involving physical punishment, does not reach the level of potential abuse. The vignettes describing corporal punishment depict methods of physical discipline which are socially tolerated (Straus, 1994) and which do not create a risk of serious harm or impairment to the child. On the other hand, vignettes that describe possible maltreatment depict situations which pose a real risk of serious harm or hurt to the child, for example, burning a whining child with a cigarette, immersing a bed-wetting child in hot water, beating a child with a cane. For the “approval of corporal punishment” vignettes, respondents were asked to indicate how much they approve or disapprove of the way the parent handles the child’s misbehavior by giving a rating of from 0 to 6. A “0” indicates that the respondent strongly disapproves of the parent’s reaction and a “6” means that the respondent strongly approves of the way the parent handled the situation. The ratings for each response were added together to give a single score for “approval of corporal punishment.” The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .74 reflects the internal consistency of the measure.

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Table 1 Distributions of approval of corporal punishment, perception of seriousness of problematic parental behavior, and likelihood of reporting (N ⫽ 325)

Approval of Corporal Punishment Perception of Seriousness Likelihood of Reporting

Actual Range of Scores

Mean

SD

0–48 41–84 0–12

16.2 74.9 6.2

9.4 7.5 2.4

Analysis The frequency distributions of the three variables were described, and the correlations among the three variables were computed. Hypothesis three was tested using multiple regression procedures. The sample of 325 has sufficient power to detect a low to moderate effect size of r ⫽ .20 within the population 97% of the time using the .05 level of significance (Cohen, 1988).

Results The sample varied considerably in their level of approval of corporal punishment (Table 1). The theoretical range of scores for the variable was 0 to 54 with a neutral score of 27. The actual range was 0 to 48; the mean was 16.2 with a standard deviation of 9.4. Most of the respondents did not endorse corporal punishment very highly, but a minority did. As a whole, the sample tended to perceive the situations of problematic parental behavior as relatively serious. The theoretical range for the variable was 12 to 84. Actual scores ranged from a low of 41 to a high of 84. The mean score was 74.9 with a standard deviation of 7.5. A little more than half of the sample (55%) perceived all the situations as very serious (a score of 75 or above). There was considerable variation in the “likelihood of reporting.” The possible range of scores was 0 to 12. The mean score was 6.2 with a standard deviation of 2.4. Fifty-five percent of the sample were likely to report 6 or fewer of the 12 incidents of possible maltreatment. Approval of corporal punishment is negatively related to both the perception of maltreatment (r ⫽ ⫺.31, p ⬍ .01) and the likelihood of reporting maltreatment (r ⫽ ⫺.24, p ⬍ .01) (see Table 2). Individuals with higher scores for “approval of corporal punishment” were less likely to perceive problematic parental behavior as serious and less likely to report an incident to child protective services. Regression analysis (Table 3) confirms the third hypothesis. When approval of corporal punishment is entered first into the equation predicting the likelihood of reporting, it accounts for 6% of the variation in reporting; perception of seriousness, entered second, accounts for an additional 16%. When the perception of seriousness is entered first and the approval of corporal punishment is entered second, perception of seriousness accounts for 21% of the

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Table 2 Correlations between approval of corporal punishment, perception of seriousness of problematic parental behavior, and likelihood of reporting (N ⫽ 325)

Approval of Corporal Punishment Perception of Seriousness

Perception of Seriousness

Likelihood of Reporting

⫺.31** 1.00

⫺.24** .46**

** p ⬍ .01.

variation in reporting and approval of corporal punishment accounts for an additional 1%. The total impact of “approval of corporal punishment” and “perception of seriousness” on reporting (R2 ⫽ .22) can be partitioned (Pedhazur, 1997) as follows: the effect of “perception of seriousness,” independent of “approval of corporal punishment” has an R2 of .16; the effect of “approval of corporal punishment,” independent of “perception of seriousness” has an R2 of .01; the overlap of the effects of both the “approval of corporal punishment” and the “perception of seriousness” has an R2 of .05. Nearly all of the effect of the approval of corporal punishment on the likelihood of reporting is transmitted through the perception of the seriousness of parental behavior toward a child.

Discussion The findings from this study are consistent with previous research linking the perception of the seriousness of an incident of possible maltreatment to the likelihood of reporting the incident (Ards & Harrell, 1993; Ashton, 1999; Van Haeringen, Dadds, & Armstrong, 1998; Zellman 1990, 1992). The current study adds to the previous research by confirming that this relationship holds also among entry level social service workers, and by empirically confirming the speculations that belief in corporal punishment is related to reporting child maltreatment. In the current study the worker’s approval of corporal punishment was significantly correlated to both the perception of maltreatment (r ⫽ ⫺.31) and the likelihood of reporting maltreatment (r ⫽ ⫺.24). However the effect of the approval of corporal punishment on Table 3 Multiple regression analyses of likelihood of reporting by approval of corporal punishment and perception of seriousness of problematic parental behavior (N ⫽ 325) B

R2

R 2 change

Sig.

Procedure 1 Step 1. Enter: Approval of Corporal Punishment Step 2. Add: Perception of Seriousness

⫺.24 .43

.06 .22

NA .16

.001 .000

Procedure 2 Step 1. Enter: Perception of Seriousness Step 2: Add: Approval of Corporal Punishment

.46 ⫺.11

.21 .22

NA .01

.001 .05

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reporting is transmitted through the perception of the seriousness of an incident of possible maltreatment. It appears that attitudes about corporal punishment have a direct effect on the perception of maltreatment; and the perception of maltreatment then has an effect on the decision to report an incident. But the effect of the perception of the seriousness of an incident on the decision to report is more than the variance contributed by “approval of corporal punishment” alone. In other words, one’s perception of maltreatment is comprised of one’s approval of corporal punishment and other factors including case specific characteristics. This study has some limitations, namely, it is a cross sectional study utilizing a convenience sample of urban students who were predominately women of color. The gender and ethnic composition of the sample may limit the generalization of the findings to similar populations; as students this sample may not fully reflect the attitudes and opinions of actual workers. However, it is likely that the sample represents beginning workers in the human services who have not had special training or orientation. A further limitation of the study is the fact that the sample responded to scenarios depicted in vignettes rather than to real life situations. It is probable that in real life workers would have more information about an incident, than is given in a vignette, which would either increase or decrease the likelihood of reporting. Nonetheless, vignettes have been used in previous research (Hong & Hong, 1991; Zellman & Bell, 1990) as acceptable measures of behavioral intent. Despite the study’s limitations, the findings clearly point to the importance of attitudes as predictors of reporting behavior. Furthermore, the findings suggest the need for criteria and training to help workers make appropriate decisions about reporting. Entry level workers in the health and social services act as gatekeepers of child welfare. These workers frequently come into contact with children who are maltreated or who are in danger of being maltreated. Effective child protection depends on the skill of front line workers (those workers who have direct contact with children and families) to recognize potential and actual maltreatment and to report such incidents to child protective services to intervene and protect the child. Empirical studies have shown that when maltreatment is obvious most workers agree that the incident should be reported (Ashton, 1999; Deisz, Doueck, George, & Levine, 1996; Smith, Sullivan, & Cohen, 1995; Zellman & Antler, 1990). However, when abuse and neglect are not blatant, it is more difficult to discern whether actual maltreatment exists. It is when an incident is subtle that mandated reporters must use keen judgment. The findings from this study suggest that it is in those cases where judgment is most needed that a worker’s attitude about corporal punishment effects his or her ability to discern and to act. The findings from this study imply that workers who approve of corporal punishment may not respond appropriately to incidents of potential and actual child abuse and neglect. Attitudes held about corporal punishment may make a worker an ineffective gatekeeper. Implications for practice The findings from this study indicate that attitudes and beliefs are predictors of behavioral intent. Approval of corporal punishment is just one attitude or belief that contributes to the worker’s perception of parental behavior and which ultimately contributes to the worker’s

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response to parental behavior. However, one’s attitude toward corporal punishment is not the sole donor to the perception of maltreatment. As this study suggests, there are other factors which effect a worker’s perception of maltreatment including the characteristics of the given case. A partnering of practitioners and researchers is needed to identify as yet unknown factors that influence a worker’s perception of and response to child maltreatment. In order to detect child maltreatment workers should have a standard point of reference to differentiate between legal parental behavior and illegal maltreatment. All social service workers, entry level workers in particular, require consistent, concrete criteria to guide them in making a decision to report an incident of suspected maltreatment. Social welfare agencies, because their employees are legally mandated to report child maltreatment, should offer comprehensive training programs to provide new workers with a set of standards designed to enable them to detect and report child maltreatment regardless of the workers’ various personal beliefs about parenting and discipline.

Acknowledgments The author is grateful to W. Cody Wilson for valuable comments on earlier drafts of this work.

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Resumen Objetivo: Este estudio examino´ co´mo afectaba a los trabajadores su actitud hacia el castigo corporal en la percepcio´n y el reporte del maltrato infantil. En este estudio participaron trescientos veinte y cinco trabajadores con potencial en el nivel de entrada. Me´todo: Los participantes en el estudio respondiendo a vin˜etas en escalas multi-item (1) evaluaban su aprobacio´n de la disciplina parental que incluı´a castigo corporal; (2) evaluaban la seriedad de los incidentes de probable maltrato; y (3) indicaban si reportarı´an o no los incidentes de maltrato a los servicios de proteccio´n infantil. Los datos fueron analizados utilizando ana´lisis de correlacio´n y procedimientos de regresio´n mu´ltiple. Resultados: (1) Los participantes con puntajes ma´s altos en la aprobacio´n del castigo corporal tenı´an menos probabilidad de percibir el maltrato; (2) los participantes con puntajes ma´s altos en la aprobacio´n del castigo corporal tenı´an menos probabilidad de reportar el maltrato; (3) la probabilidad de que un participante reportara el maltrato estaba unida a su percepcio´n de la seriedad de un incidente y a su aprobacio´n del castigo corporal. Conclusio´n: Las actitudes acerca del castigo corporal son predictores importantes de la conducta al reportar. Las agencias del servicio social enfrentan un desafı´o para ofrecerle a sus trabajadores un entrenamiento que los capacite para detectar y reportar el maltrato a pesar de sus creencias individuales acerca de la disciplina y el castigo.