| Abstract: | This study investigates parents' attitudes towards the disciplining of young children, and compares their beliefs about discipline to their actual practice of behaviour management. Data have been collected from a sample of parents whose children are attending Nottinghamshire nursery schools using self‐report questionnaires. Only one quarter of respondents agree that smacking is the appropriate way to handle the unsafe behaviour of a three year old child, and many of the sample recognise that parents who smack their children may face repercussions from social services and the courts. However almost two thirds of the sample had smacked their pre‐school child in the past week. Parents who endorse the use of non‐coercive management techniques smack their children as well. These results suggest that initiatives to promote positive discipline may not be sufficient in themselves to reduce the physical punishment of children. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
