ABSTRACT Parental use of corporal punishment (CP) as a way of disciplining children is a widespread global problem. A number of child and family problems are linked to the behavior. Despite being commonly used to discipline children in many countries, its use is far from universal. Why do some parents use it while others do not? This paper examines the principal determinants, or predictors, that influence parental use of this form of punishment. I begin with a brief historical overview of the efforts to study the determinants of parental behavior. I then provide a brief summary of the four major categories of variables that predict CP use: socio-cultural influences; the family and social environment; child variables; and parental variables. Two types of parental variables – conscious thoughts as well as unconscious motives–will be examined in some detail. It is noteworthy that unconscious forces have received little research attention and typically go ignored. This raises an important methodological point: how CP is assessed affects the determinants studied. The article ends with a discussion of some future directions for the study of the predictors of CP and other disciplinary responses.

中文翻译：

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父母为什么要打孩子？从文化到无意识的决定因素

摘要父母使用体罚作为惩戒儿童的一种方式是一个普遍存在的全球性问题。许多儿童和家庭问题与行为有关。尽管在许多国家通常被用来惩戒儿童，但它的使用还远未普及。为什么有些父母不使用它？本文研究了影响父母使用这种惩罚形式的主要决定因素或预测因素。我首先简要回顾一下研究父母行为决定因素的历史回顾。然后，我对预测CP使用的四个主要变量类别进行了简要总结：社会文化影响；家庭和社会环境；子变量；和父母变量。两种类型的父母变量-有意识的思想和无意识的动机-将进行详细研究。值得注意的是，潜意识力量很少受到研究关注，通常被忽略。这就提出了一个重要的方法论观点：CP的评估方式如何影响所研究的决定因素。本文最后讨论了CP预测因子和其他学科反应研究的一些未来方向。