Effects of corporal punishment, perceived caretaker warmth, and cultural beliefs on the psychological adjustment of children in St. Kitts, West Indies

Research reported here addresses two questions: (a) Is physical punishment by itself associated with impairments in children's psychological adjustment, or is punishment linked with these effects only or primarily insofar as it is perceived by children to be a form of caretaker rejection? (b) Do interrelationships among physical punishment, perceived rejection, and psychological adjustment vary according to the extent to which children personally agree with the cultural belief affirming parents' right to use physical force? A structural equation modeling analysis of a sample of 349 youths, aged 9 through 16 in St. Kitts, West Indies, shows that physical punishment by itself does make a modest but significant direct and negative contribution to youths' psychological adjustment. However, Kittitian children also tend to experience themselves to be rejected in direct proportion to the frequency and severity of punishment received. And the more rejected they perceive themselves to be, the more impaired their psychological adjustment tends to be. The direct impact of physical punishment on youths' psychological adjustment in conjunction with the indirect effect, as mediated through perceived caretaker rejection, is substantial. Children's beliefs about physical punishment do not have a significant effect on these relationships. That is, the psychological adjustment of youths who share the cultural belief that it is good for parents to punish children tends to be impaired to the same degree as the adjustment of youths who do not share this belief.