TABLE 3.
Effects of Parental Spanking on Child’s Standardized PPVT Score at Age 9
| Variables | Model 1: Spanking (SE) | Model 2: Child and Family Characteristics (SE) | Model 3: Maternal Mental Health and Cognition (SE) | Model 4: Earlier Child Behavior (SE) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mother spanking ≥twice/wk at age 3a | −1.20 (1.32) | −1.31 (1.15) | −0.95 (1.15) | −0.37 (1.09) |
| Mother spanking <twice/wk at age 3a | 0.65 (0.86) | 0.49 (0.75) | 0.54 (0.75) | 0.30 (0.71) |
| Mother spanking ≥twice/wk at age 5a | −1.40 (1.82) | −1.65 (1.61) | −1.09 (1.61) | −0.92 (1.52) |
| Mother spanking <twice/wk at age 5a | −1.11 (0.83) | −0.00 (0.73) | 0.22 (0.73) | 0.22 (0.69) |
| Father spanking ≥twice/wk at age 3a | 0.92 (1.77) | 0.32 (1.56) | 0.20 (1.55) | −0.56 (1.46) |
| Father spanking <twice/wk at age 3a | 0.36 (0.97) | 0.22 (0.85) | 0.24 (0.85) | 0.26 (0.80) |
| Father spanking ≥twice/wk at age 5a | −5.06+ (2.78) | −5.65* (2.44) | −5.70* (2.42) | −4.21+ (2.29) |
| Father spanking <twice/wk at age 5a | −0.70 (1.02) | −1.42 (0.90) | −1.32 (0.89) | −0.79 (0.84) |
| Control variables included in model | ||||
| Child & family characteristics | √ | √ | √ | |
| Maternal mental health and cognition | √ | √ | ||
| Earlier child externalizing and PPVT scores at age 3 | √ | |||
| Constant | 95.51*** (0.74) | 106.75*** (10.64) | 99.10*** (10.89) | 75.96*** (10.49) |
| Observations | 1532 | 1532 | 1532 | 1532 |
| R2 | 0.031 | 0.28 | 0.30 | 0.38 |
Model 1: Includes only the parental spanking variables.
Model 2: Introduces controls for child and family characteristics: child gender; child’s age; child first born; child emotional temperament at age 1; maternal age at birth; marital status at baseline and at age 9; maternal race or ethnicity; maternal education; household income to needs ratio; mother foreign born; mother lived with both her parents at age 15; maternal employment in past 2 wk; number of adults in household at age 9; number of other children in household at age 9; maternal prenatal drugs, alcohol, or smoking; maternal prenatal IPV exposure; supportive birth father; and late starting or no prenatal care.
Model 3: Includes same controls as Model 2 and adds controls for low maternal stress at age 5, indication of maternal depression of general anxiety disorder over past 9 y, mother’s impulsivity at year 5, mother’s WAIS-R similarities score at year 3, and cognitively stimulating parenting at age 1.
Model 4: Includes same controls as Model 3 and adds a control for the child’s earlier externalizing CBCL score at age 3 and the child’s PPVT score at age 3.
Omitted category is parent not spanking (all models also include controls for father absent at age 3 and father absent at age 5 interviews).
P < .001;
P < .01;
P < .05;
P < .07.