The coping strategies of children subjected to corporal punishment and the related effects of caregiver involvement

The purpose of this study was to examine the consequences of corporal punishment and the effects of caregiver involvement on maladaptive and adaptive coping of children. There were twenty-five participants from the third through the seventh grades. Participants were randomly selected from three participating school systems and randomly selected from the classroom's of participating teachers. Two scales were used for data collection, the Home Environment Profile and the Academic and Social Coping Inventory. No significant relationships were found between the frequency of punishment and adaptive or maladaptive coping in academic or social situations. Correlational analyses found a positive correlation between corporal punishment and maladaptive academic (r= .2708) and maladaptive social (r= .3644) coping strategies. However, corporal punishment,/u> also slightly correlated with adaptive academic (r= .1232) and adaptive social (r= .2692) coping strategies. A negative correlation was found for caregiver involvement and adaptive academic (r= -.3923) and adaptive social (r= -.3879) coping strategies and a positive correlation with maladaptive academic (r=.3383) and maladaptive social (r= .4559*, p<.05) coping strategies. Overall, corporal punishment in this study was not associated with the maladaptive social and academic coping strategies of children. Caregiver involvement, as defined by this study, was associated with increased maladaptive coping of children and not increased adaptive coping.