Two key tasks facing parents across cultures are managing children's behaviors (and misbehaviors) and conveying love and affection. Previous research has found that corporal punishment generally is related to worse child adjustment, whereas parental warmth is related to better child adjustment. This study examined whether the association between corporal punishment and child adjustment problems (anxiety and aggression) is moderated by maternal warmth in a diverse set of countries that vary in a number of sociodemographic and psychological ways. Interviews were conducted with 7- to 10-year-old children (N = 1,196; 51% girls) and their mothers in 8 countries: China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States. Follow-up interviews were conducted 1 and 2 years later. Corporal punishment was related to increases, and maternal warmth was related to decreases, in children's anxiety and aggression over time; however, these associations varied somewhat across groups. Maternal warmth moderated the effect of corporal punishment in some countries, with increases in anxiety over time for children whose mothers were high in both warmth and corporal punishment. The findings illustrate the overall association between corporal punishment and child anxiety and aggression as well as patterns specific to particular countries. Results suggest that clinicians across countries should advise parents against using corporal punishment, even in the context of parent–child relationships that are otherwise warm, and should assist parents in finding other ways to manage children's behaviors.

Significance: Interpersonal conflict and violence occur within and between groups around the world. Although not proving causation, this study is significant because it suggests a key psychological mechanism in children’s chronic aggression that might be targeted for intervention: one’s attribution that a peer is acting with hostile intent. When children attribute hostile intent to peers, they are more likely to predict they would react aggressively than when they attribute benign intent. Differences in this tendency statistically account for differences in future chronic aggressive behavior problems across children, as well as differences in chronic aggressive behavior problem rates across ecological-context groups. Identifying this mechanism could lead to novel interventions, education, and policies that reduce or prevent aggressive behavior.