Long-term effects of child punishment on Mexican women: a structural model

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate long-term effects of parental use of physical and verbal punishment on Mexican women. To study both direct and indirect effects of these phenomena, a structural model was developed and tested. Method: One hundred and fifty Mexican women were interviewed with regard to their history of child abuse, their level of depression, alcohol use, antisocial behavior, and punishment of their own children. Factors representing such constructs were specified within a structural equation model and their inter-relations were estimated. Women's history of abuse was considered as an exogenous latent variable directly affecting three other factors: mothers' antisocial behavior, their alcohol consumption, and their levels of depression or anxiety. These factors, in turn, were specified as influencing mothers' harsh discipline of their own children. Results: Data supported this model, indicating that a history of abuse has long-term effects on women's behavior and psychological functioning, which in turn cause women's punitive behavior against their children. Conclusions: These results are discussed in terms of the theoretical framework of intergenerational transmission of violence. The direct consequences (depression, anxiety, alcohol consumption, and antisocial behavior) of child punishment act as risk factors for the next generation of child abuse. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.