Hugs, Not Hits: Warmth and Spanking as Predictors of Child Social Competence

Abstract

Many parents believe that spanking is an effective way to promote children's positive behavior, yet few studies have examined spanking and the development of social competence. Using information from 3,279 families with young children who participated in a longitudinal study of urban families, this study tested competing hypotheses regarding whether maternal spanking or maternal warmth predicted increased social competence and decreased child aggression over time and which parent behavior was a stronger predictor of these changes. The frequency of maternal spanking was unrelated to maternal warmth. Findings from cross-lagged path models indicated that spanking was not associated with children's social competence, but spanking predicted increases in child aggression. Conversely, maternal warmth predicted children's greater social competence but was not associated with aggression. Warmth was a significantly stronger predictor of children's social competence than spanking, suggesting that warmth may be a more effective way to promote children's social competence than spanking.

Keywords: Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing (FFCW); aggression; antisocial behavior; child discipline/guidance; early childhood; mother–child relations..

Figure I.

FINAL MODEL FPR MATERNAL PARENTING BEHAVIORS (SPANKING, WARMTH) AS PREDICTORS OF CHANGE IN CHILD BEHAVIORS (AGGRESSION, SOCIAL COMPETENCE) FROM AGE 3 TO AGE 5 YEARS. Note. All relationships in the above model were controlled for: child temperament, health, and sex; mothers’ parenting stress, depression, alcohol use, father-to-mother intimate partner violence, race, age, education, verbal skills, relationship status, and household income. All standard errors are adjusted for clustering by city. Standardized path coefficients are presented. Boldface paths correspond to the four study hypotheses. Dotted lines indicate nonsignificant relationships. **p < .01. ***p < .001.