Neighborhood and parenting influences on early behavioral outcomes are strongly dependent upon a child's stage of development. However, little research has jointly considered the longitudinal associations of neighborhood and parenting processes with behavior problems in early childhood. To address this limitation, this study explores the associations of neighborhood collective efficacy and maternal corporal punishment with the longitudinal patterns of early externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. The study sample consisted of 3,705 families from a nationally representative cohort study of urban families. Longitudinal multilevel models examined the associations of collective efficacy and corporal punishment with behavior problems at age 3, as well as with patterns of behavior problems between the ages 3 to 5. Interactions between the main predictors and child age tested whether neighborhood and parent relationships with child behavior varied over time. Mediation analysis examined whether neighborhood influences on child behavior were mediated by parenting. The models controlled for a comprehensive set of possible confounders at the child, parent, and neighborhood levels. Results indicate that both maternal corporal punishment and low neighborhood collective efficacy were significantly associated with increased behavior problems. The significant interaction between collective efficacy and child age with internalizing problems suggests that neighborhood influences on internalizing behavior were stronger for younger children. The indirect effect of low collective efficacy on behavior problems through corporal punishment was not significant. These findings highlight the importance of multilevel interventions that promote both neighborhood collective efficacy and nonphysical discipline in early childhood. (PsycINFO Database Record

Corporal punishment is still widely practiced around the globe, despite the large body of child development research that substantiates its short- and long-term consequences. Within this context, this paper examined the relationship between parental use of corporal punishment and youth externalizing behavior with a Chilean sample to add to the growing empirical evidence concerning the potential relationship between increased corporal punishment and undesirable youth outcomes across cultures. Analysis was based on 919 adolescents in Santiago, Chile. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the extent to which parents' use of corporal punishment and positive family measures were associated with youth externalizing behavior. Furthermore, the associations between self-reported externalizing behavior and infrequent, as well as frequent, use of corporal punishment were investigated to understand how varying levels of parental use of corporal punishment were differently related to youth outcomes. Both mothers' and fathers' use of corporal punishment were associated with greater youth externalizing behavior. Additionally, increases in positive parenting practices, such as parental warmth and family involvement, were met with decreases in youth externalizing behavior when controlling for youth demographics, family socioeconomic status, and parents' use of corporal punishment. Finally, both infrequent and frequent use of corporal punishment were positively associated with higher youth problem behaviors, though frequent corporal punishment had a stronger relationship with externalizing behavior than did infrequent corporal punishment. Parental use of corporal punishment, even on an occasional basis, is associated with greater externalizing behavior for youth while a warm and involving family environment may protect youth from serious problem behaviors. Therefore, findings of this study add to the growing evidence concerning the negative consequences of corporal punishment for youth outcomes.

This study employed fixed effects regression that controls for selection bias, omitted variables bias, and all time-invariant aspects of parent and child characteristics to examine the simultaneous associations between neighborhood disorganization, maternal spanking, and aggressive behavior in early childhood using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS). Analysis was based on 2,472 children and their mothers who participated in Wave 3 (2001-2003; child age 3) and Wave 4 (2003-2006; child age 5) of the FFCWS. Results indicated that higher rates of neighborhood crime and violence predicted higher levels of child aggression. Maternal spanking in the past year, whether frequent or infrequent, was also associated with increases in aggressive behavior. This study contributes statistically rigorous evidence that exposure to violence in the neighborhood as well as the family context are predictors of child aggression. We conclude with a discussion for the need for multilevel prevention and intervention approaches that target both community and parenting factors.

Gender inequality perpetuates women’s economic insecurity and a culture of violence. Parental distress caused by economic pressure may increase violence against children. High levels of gender inequality and interpersonal violence may contribute to higher levels of physical abuse. Using an ecological perspective, this study examines the association of country-level gender inequality and household-level parental physical abuse, and the moderating role of child gender in this association in low- and middle-income countries. We used data on over 420,000 households from the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and country-level indicators from the United Nations Development Program Human Development data. We employed multilevel logistic regression to examine the association between gender inequality with the log-odds of physical abuse after accounting for country- and individual-level covariates. In order to more fully explore our results, we calculated predicted probabilities of abuse for several scenarios. The results indicated that higher levels of gender inequality were associated with higher probabilities of physical abuse. This association was stronger for female children than for male children. The probabilities of abuse by child gender were indistinguishable, although rates of physical abuse converged as gender inequality increased, at a statistically marginal level. These findings indicate that macro-level interventions that reduce gender inequality are necessary to prevent and reduce child physical abuse.