The influence of perceived social norms on behaviour has been studied in a variety of domains. However, little research has examined their application to child discipline. This study explored social norms perceptions and their associations with parental discipline in greater Cape Town, South Africa. A cross‐sectional study of 195 mothers (using convenience sampling) from two Early Childhood Development centres examined self‐reported violent and non‐violent parenting behaviour, and perceived descriptive (usual behaviour in a group) and injunctive (appraisal of such behaviour) group norms. Parents overestimated the prevalence of violent parenting. Perceived descriptive norms of violent parenting were associated with self‐reported violent parenting behaviour; and perceived descriptive norms of non‐violent parenting were associated with self‐reported non‐violent parenting behaviour. Estimation of support for violent and for non‐violent parenting differed by centre, as did the relationship between perceived injunctive norms of non‐violent parenting and self‐reported non‐violent parenting behaviour. We also found significant effects of social identification, parent educational attainment and parent‐reported child misbehaviour. Parents' perceptions of group norms of parental discipline may be mistaken yet influence their own behaviour, providing the potential basis for violence prevention interventions.

中文翻译：

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父母对儿童纪律处分规范的误解

人们已经在许多领域研究了感知的社会规范对行为的影响。但是，很少有研究检查它们在儿童训练中的应用。这项研究探讨了南非大开普敦的社会规范观念及其与父母纪律的关系。来自两个儿童早期发展中心的195名母亲的横断面研究（使用便利抽样）研究了自我报告的暴力和非暴力养育行为，以及描述性（团体中的日常行为）和禁令性（对此类行为的评估）组规范。父母高估了暴力育儿的发生率。暴力育儿的感知描述性规范与自我报告的暴力育儿行为有关；以及非暴力育儿的描述性规范与自我报告的非暴力育儿行为有关。对暴力和非暴力养育子女的支持估计因中心而异，感知到的非暴力养育禁令与自我报告的非暴力养育行为之间的关系也有所不同。我们还发现了社会认同，父母的受教育程度和父母报告的儿童行为不当的重大影响。父母对父母纪律的集体规范的看法可能会被误解，但会影响他们自己的行为，为预防暴力干预措施提供了潜在的基础。非暴力育儿的禁令规范与自我报告的非暴力育儿行为之间的关系也是如此。我们还发现了社会认同，父母的受教育程度和父母报告的儿童行为不当的重大影响。父母对父母纪律的集体规范的看法可能会被误解，但会影响他们自己的行为，为预防暴力干预措施提供了潜在的基础。非暴力教养的禁令规范与自我报告的非暴力养育行为之间的关系也是如此。我们还发现了社会认同，父母的受教育程度和父母报告的儿童行为不当的重大影响。父母对父母纪律的集体规范的看法可能会误解，但会影响他们自己的行为，为预防暴力干预措施提供了潜在的基础。