Abstract: Childhood Corporal Punishment and Future Experiences with Dating Violence (Society for Prevention Research 25th Annual Meeting)

211 Childhood Corporal Punishment and Future Experiences with Dating Violence

Schedule:
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Columbia A/B (Hyatt Regency Washington, Washington, DC)
* noted as presenting author
Jeff R. Temple, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX
Hye Jeong Choi, PhD, Assistant professor, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
Tyson Reuter, PhD, Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Psychology Houston, PC, Houston, TX
Mounting evidence demonstrates the deleterious mental and physical outcomes of corporal punishment. Less is known about the role of this form of punishment and future experiences with dating violence. Young adults (n = 758; 61% female; mean age of 20), originally recruited as 9th and 10th grade high school students for a longitudinal study, were asked about their childhood experiences with corporal punishment and physical abuse, as well as current experiences with dating violence. A path model was used to determine if childhood corporal punishment was related to recent perpetration of physical dating violence, while controlling for childhood abuse, age, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. 19% of participants (N = 134) reported physical dating violence perpetration and 51% reported being spanked as children (N = 498, M = 1.07, SD = 0.96). Univariate analysis showed a significant positive association between spanking and physical DV perpetration, OR = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.04, 1.30). Even after controlling for gender, ethnicity, age, parental education, and physical child abuse, spanking was significantly associated with physical DV perpetration (aOR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.34). The finding that childhood spanking was associated with perpetration of young adult physical dating violence, even after controlling for several demographic variables and childhood abuse, adds to the growing literature demonstrating deleterious outcomes associated with corporal punishment.