Prevalence and correlates of corporal punishment among adolescents

The study examined the prevalence of corporal punishment, its socio-economic correlates and its association with psychosocial adjustment and academic performance of adolescents. One thousand and five hundred students (Mean age = 15 years, S.D. = 1.67) studying in 8th to 12th grade of government schools of a North Indian city were interviewed. All adolescents were asked if their parents had physically hit them in the last one year. Psychological adjustment was assessed by the Pre-Adolescent Adjustment Scale (Pareek et al., 1976). Results indicated that 20.3% (N = 305) of adolescents reported being physically punished by their parents. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that being male, and younger, getting lower percentage of marks in school examination and having a father with low level of education significantly increased the risk of being physically punished by the parents. Moreover, adolescents who were corporally punished in comparison to those who were not had lower overall adjustment, particularly at home and at school and with teachers. It is concluded that a large proportion of Indian parents use corporal punishment to discipline their adolescent children and that it has adverse effects on their psychosocial adjustment.