The present study investigated the extent to which fathers and mothers at high-risk and low-risk for child physical abuse (CPA) differed in their use of harsh discipline and punishment when presented ambiguous child situations (situations where differences in positive and negative valences are close to zero). High-risk for CPA parents ( = 74: fathers, = 41; mothers, = 33) and low-risk parents ( = 178: fathers, = 91; mothers, = 87) were asked to indicate their likelihood of using harsh verbal discipline (HVD), harsh physical discipline (HPD), and punishment (i.e., retributive harm separate from HVD and HPD) after viewing each of eighteen ambiguous child situations. As expected, high-risk, compared to low-risk, for CPA parents were significantly (s < 0.001) more likely to use HVD ( = 0.546), HPD ( = 0.595), and punishment ( = 0.564). Overall, fathers, relative to mothers, were significantly more likely to use HVD ( = 0.261) and HPD ( = 0.238). For punishment, however, there was no significant parental role (father, mother) difference ( = 0.136). Since in everyday living situations many child behaviors are ambiguous, the findings that parents, especially high-risk for CPA parents, use harsh discipline and punishment when encountering ambiguous child situations suggest that non-contingent harsh child-related parental behaviors may be frequent in the lives of some children. The findings that parents may use non-contingent discipline and punishment suggest the need to explore whether, when these parenting behaviors occur, they increase the likelihood of negative child outcomes.

中文翻译：

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父母针对模糊的儿童情况使用严厉的管教和惩罚是否会因儿童身体虐待的风险而异？


本研究调查了儿童身体虐待 (CPA) 高风险和低风险的父亲和母亲在面对模棱两可的儿童情境（正价和负价差异较大的情况）时，在使用严厉管教和惩罚方面的差异程度。接近于零）。 CPA 高风险父母（= 74：父亲，= 41；母亲，= 33）和低风险父母（= 178：父亲，= 91；母亲= 87）被要求表明他们使用严厉言语管教的可能性在查看了 18 种模棱两可的儿童情况后，（HVD）、严厉体罚（HPD）和惩罚（即，与 HVD 和 HPD 分开的报应性伤害）。正如预期的那样，与低风险相比，高风险 CPA 家长显着 (s < 0.001) 更有可能使用 HVD (= 0.546)、HPD (= 0.595) 和惩罚 (= 0.564)。总体而言，相对于母亲，父亲更有可能使用 HVD (= 0.261) 和 HPD (= 0.238)。然而，对于惩罚，父母角色（父亲、母亲）没有显着差异（= 0.136）。由于在日常生活中，许多孩子的行为都是模棱两可的，因此，父母，尤其是 CPA 的高风险父母，在遇到模棱两可的儿童情况时会使用严厉的管教和惩罚，这表明与儿童相关的非偶然的严厉父母行为可能在家庭中很常见。一些孩子的生活。父母可能使用非偶然的纪律和惩罚的研究结果表明，有必要探讨当这些养育行为发生时，它们是否会增加负面儿童结果的可能性。