Parenting Attitude Change: From Punishment to Empathy for Children

Joe Albert Garcia, Ph.D. California State University, Fullerton

Introduction
It could be said that the dominant paradigm of parenting focuses on controlling childrens behavior as the primary goal. This is often achieved through the use of mainly behavioral interventions, with rewards and punishments being the gold standard of parenting practices. However, a growing body of literature is beginning to show that a focus on social and emotional learning is a robust method for raising healthy and happy children. It is well established now that punishments in particular can have negative effects not only the desired outcome of reducing an unwanted behavior, but also in diminishing the parent child relationship. This is especially true of corporal punishment where many negative outcomes are now associated with it including increased aggressiveness, increase in undesired behaviors, and even lower IQ.1 Echo Parenting and Education is a community agency in Los Angeles whose mission is to assist parents in moving beyond punishments and even beyond the idea of positive discipline. They expose parents to an Empathy-led modality of raising children based on a philosophy of non-violence and the sciences of child development and the latest neurobiology. In this study, parents were asked to report on their attitudes and behaviors with parenting practices. They were assessed just prior to attending parenting classes and then assessed again at the conclusion of the classes. It was predicted that parents would have a change in attitude about punishments necessity in raising children, and that they would have a significantly raised appreciation of Empathy as an important tool in the raising of children.

Methods
Participants 222 Parents volunteered for the study drawn from the ongoing parenting classes provided by Echo Parenting and Education. 55% Hispanic, 23% White, 6% A-PI, 4% Af-Am 32% of the parents were Spanish speaking Diverse educational backgrounds 30.2% less than High School 33.9% College grads and/or Grad School 48% Single Parents, 20% Fathers Majority of Parents in 30s and 40s (61.2%) Assessments AAPI Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory. Well established tool for measuring parenting programs. Results in 5 constructs related to raising children: Expectations, Empathic Awareness, Corporal Punishment, Roles, Independence2 PPQ Parenting Paradigms Questionnaire. Currently being cross-validated with AAPI. It assesses parenting attitudes, knowledge and practices including those of corporal punishment, emotional development, punishments and rewards, empathy and the rights of children. Procedure Parents are assessed at the beginning of the 10 week curriculum and reassessed at the end of the classes. Measures are taken during the normally arranged meeting times of the classes with some of the curriculum being delivered after the assessment are conducted. AAPI

Results
Preliminary Analysis at only the item level showed the following:

Conclusion
The first steps in building the evidence base for Echo Parenting and Educations approach are being established. The results show that it is possible to change parenting attitudes away from using corporal punishment and other aggressive acts to control children. It is also possible that parents can alter some beliefs about using empathy and understanding (being non-judgmental). The next steps involved in this research will include: Establishing validity of the Parenting Paradigms Questionnaire Establishing the active components of the curriculum Connecting some important demographic factors to the outcomes (such as previous experience with abuse)

t Time Out is effective Must be taught to mind parents Fear is necessary for children to respect parents Children can learn good discipline without being spanked

df

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000

-3.915 371 3.760 368 5.493 370 -6.722 373

PPQ
t Children manipulate their parents Parents must be consistent disciplinarians Parents should observe and not judge behavior to understand it Children deserve to be punished when they misbehave If parents don't discipline, children will be lost in the real world Parents should raise their voice to get children to listen. df Sig. (2-tailed) .019 .001 .054 .029 .020 .012

2.360 435 3.307 432 -1.930 436 2.188 436 2.333 435 2.528 435

Parents move toward disagreement with children needing to be spanked.

2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00 Pre Post

Most importantly, beginning to asses the effects of the paradigm on the children themselves.

References
1. Gershoff, E. , Lansford, J. , Sexton, H. , Davis-Kean, P. , & Sameroff, A. (2012). Longitudinal links between spanking and children's externalizing behaviors in a national sample of white, black, hispanic, and asian american families. Child Development, 83(3), 838-843. 2. Bavolek, S.J. & Comstock, C.C. (1983). Nurturing Program for Parents and Children. Park City, Utah.

Below Parents move toward disagreement that they need to yell to be heard.
3.45 3.40 3.35 3.30 3.25 3.20 3.15 3.10 Pre Post