TABLE 2.
Bivariate Analyses of Family Characteristics by the Professional from whom Parents were Most Likely to Seek Advice Regarding Child Discipline
| Pediatricians (n = 239) | Religious Leaders (n = 104) | Mental Health (n = 92) | Other (n = 65) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47.8% | 20.8% | 18.4% | 13.0% | ||
| Parent Used Corporal Punishment | *** | ||||
| Never | 51.2 | 16.3 | 18.9 | 13.7 | |
| Less than once per month or more than 6 months ago | 39.4 | 26.8 | 26.8 | 7.0 | |
| At least once per month in the past 6 months | 13.9 | 27.2 | 7.7 | 18.8 | |
| Parent Demographics | |||||
| Gender, % | |||||
| Female | 48.0 | 21.9 | 18.4 | 11.8 | |
| Male | 47.4 | 17.8 | 18.5 | 16.3 | |
| Race, % | *** | ||||
| Black | 42.3 | 29.7 | 18.7 | 9.3 | |
| White | 56.0 | 7.5 | 18.0 | 18.5 | |
| Age, y [range: 18–99] (SD) | 37.4 (10.9) | 37.2 (11.1) | 39.4 (11.1) | 39.1 (12.1) | |
| Marital Status, % | *** | ||||
| Married | 52.8 | 14.4 | 16.9 | 15.9 | |
| Married previously | 31.6 | 34.2 | 26.3 | 7.9 | |
| Never married | 47.4 | 25.2 | 17.0 | 10.4 | |
| Education, % | * | ||||
| < high school | 48.4 | 26.6 | 12.5 | 12.5 | |
| High school | 44.6 | 23.2 | 17.9 | 14.3 | |
| Some college | 44.7 | 27.6 | 21.1 | 6.5 | |
| College graduate | 50.0 | 18.4 | 14.9 | 16.7 | |
| Graduate degree | 52.9 | 6.9 | 24.1 | 16.1 | |
| Household income perceived to be,% | ** | ||||
| More than we need | 54.6 | 13.6 | 18.2 | 13.6 | |
| Just enough | 48.8 | 15.5 | 20.7 | 15.0 | |
| Not enough | 45.4 | 27.1 | 16.3 | 11.3 | |
| Parent Religious Characteristics | |||||
| Religion, % | *** | ||||
| Catholic | 59.5 | 10.5 | 15.5 | 14.5 | |
| Christian/non-Catholic | 39.0 | 32.0 | 19.1 | 10.0 | |
| Other religion | 42.1 | 10.5 | 21.1 | 26.3 | |
| (Missing) | 45.2 | 16.1 | 29.0 | 9.7 | |
| Religious service attendance, % | *** | ||||
| Never | 61.8 | 1.8 | 16.4 | 20.0 | |
| 1x/month or less | 51.9 | 14.2 | 20.2 | 13.7 | |
| 1x/week | 49.4 | 20.8 | 18.0 | 11.8 | |
| More than 1x/week | 24.0 | 50.7 | 16.0 | 9.3 | |
| Importance religious or spiritual beliefs in daily life, % | *** | ||||
| Very importanta | 43.8 | 27.5 | 18.6 | 10.0 | |
| Somewhat important or less so | 58.0 | 4.9 | 18.2 | 18.9 | |
| Parent Risk Factors | |||||
| Non-physical types of discipline (such as time out or positive reinforcement) never work as well as physical discipline such as spanking, % | ** | ||||
| Strongly disagree | 50.3 | 13.3 | 19.4 | 17.0 | |
| Disagree | 47.6 | 20.8 | 18.8 | 12.8 | |
| Other (agree or neither) | 45.0 | 35.0 | 13.8 | 6.3 | |
| Parenting stress, [range: 1–4.7] (SD) | 2.2 (0.7) | 2.2 (0.9) | 2.1 (0.6) | 2.2 (0.7) | |
| Knowledge of child development, [range: 0–100] (SD) | 73.6 (17.6) | 66.1 (16.7) | 71.7 (17.1) | 73.3 (15.7) | ** |
| Aggression in family of origin, cumulative score [range: 0–4] (SD) | 2.0 (1.5) | 2.1 (1.5) | 2.1 (1.5) | 2.4 (1.4) | |
| Index Child Demographics | |||||
| Gender, % | |||||
| Female | 47.4 | 22.6 | 17.8 | 12.2 | |
| Male | 48.2 | 19.3 | 18.9 | 13.7 | |
| Age, y [range: 0–17] (SD) | 6.4 (4.7) | 7.8 (4.8) | 8.0 (4.9) | 6.7 (4.7) | ** |
Note: Bivariate statistical tests were conducted to compare the main variable of interest (“the professional from whom parents were most likely to seek advice regarding child discipline,” which has 4 categories) with all variables indicated in Table 1. Chi-square tests were used to compare this variable with other categorical or ordinal variables; one way ANOVAS were used to compare it with continuous variables.
The other 4 response categories were collapsed into “Somewhat important or less so” due to the distribution of the variable as follows: Somewhat important (20.2%), Neither important nor unimportant (1.6%), Somewhat unimportant (2.8%), and Very unimportant (4.0%).
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