Thesis (M.A.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: Carroll E. Izard, Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references.

Die navorsingsondersoek is toegespits op tug en straf as agogiese fenomene. Besinning oor tug en straf in pedagogiese, juridiese en ander lewensituasies bring die verband tussen modi van menswees en oorsake van oortredings aan die lig. Juridies-agogiese aspekte van tug is met die pedagogiese vergelyk. 'n Bespreking van tersaaklike statutere bepalings ten opsigte van tugmaatreels en lyfstraf in die onderwyssituasie het aan die lig gebring dat lyfstraf met die grootste versigtigheid en verantwoordelikheid toegepas moet word. Menseregte, strafteoriee wat die doel van straf aandui en alternatiewe vir lyfstraf wat die menswaardigheid van die oortreder bewaar, word bespreek. 'n Moontlike verloop van die strafhandeling is aan die lig gebring. Hierdie verloop beklemtoon dat straf, en veral lyfstraf, nie noodwendig deel van tug hoef te wees nie, omdat tug 'n begeleidingshandeling is. / The research concentrated on discipline (admonishment) and punishment as agogic phenomena. Consideration of discipline and punishment in pedagogic, judicial and other situations in life discloses the connection between modes of being human and reasons for transgressions. Judicial-agogic discipline are compared to pedagogic aspects. A discussion of relevant statutory stipulations relating to disciplinary measures and corporal punishment should either be applied with the greatest care and responsibility or else abolished. Human rights, punishment theories specifying the aim of punishment, and alternatives for corporal punishment which maintain the human dignity of the transgressor are discussed. A possible course of punitive action is revealed. This course stresses that punishment, especially corporal punishment, need not necessarily be part of discipline because discipline is accompaniment. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Fundamentele Pedagogiek)

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Far reaching changes on educational, economic and social levels are at present taking place in the Republic of South- Africa. Perceptions with regard to discipline have not remained untouched in this process. The issue of discipline is the root of many problems and much stress in parents, educators and children. This study forms part of a research project initiated by the Department of Educational Sciences at the Rand Afrikaans University. The aim of the project was to establish the prerequisites for disciplining in order to make it more effective and less problematic. The aim of this particular study is to establish how important the social facet of discipline is. Research has been done to establish whether educators (parents and teachers), during the act of disciplining, take cognisance of the effect of discipline on the person and his group. The aspects of the social facet of discipline that received attention in the literature study are amongst others, peer-group pressure, social background of the child, relationship with members of the opposite sex, the child's status amongst his friends and discipline and the values of the community. Following the identification of the above mentioned factors, a questionnaire was compiled to establish perceptions regarding the importance of the social facet of discipline...

This study explores the relationship between ethnicity and level of religiosity, and parental or caregiver practices of physical punishment as a discipline style.

Physical discipline of children is currently a subject of major debate within and beyond the UK. Mainly in relation to children's disciplinary relationships with teachers and parents, this topic is repeatedly the subject of high profile parliamentary and media debates, campaigns, legal cases and international political pressure. However, the perceptions of those in the social position to receive such physical discipline have rarely been included in the legal and political debates or in research studies. When young people's views have been sought it has been on issues and in terms determined by adults. This thesis specifically aims to address this gap in the research literature and to inform the debates on physical discipline by highlighting the issues of particular importance to young people. This is in line with recent legal, political and scientific shifts towards valuing the voices of children on all matters affecting them. Adopting a broadly interpretivist methodological approach, and drawing on the new 'sociology of childhood' paradigm, the study is grounded in the young people's own perceptions. It elicits their views at an abstract level and examines perceptions thematically in relation to their underlying frameworks of reference. The fieldwork involved focused interviews and focus groups with 227 participants aged 11-12 and 14-16 years from schools in central Scotland. In addition, the adult debates and interviews with 25 carers are analysed to further illuminate distinctive features of the young people's perceptions. Themes emanating from the young participants are organised into three dominant areas: purposes and immediate effectiveness of acts of physical force; concerns and contingencies surrounding acts of physical force; and relationships, rights and power. Young participants perceived the use of physical force as legitimate for certain disciplinary purposes. These are grouped in four main categories: to communicate with the child; to teach appropriate behaviour for the future; to restrain or remove the child; and to enforce overall adult control in specific situations. The term 'punishment' was associated by young participants solely with retribution, which they rejected as an illegitimate purpose for physical force. The widely perceived immediate effectiveness of physical discipline was seen as dependent upon the influence of certain contextual conditions, such as the child's personality and peer influence. Perceived effectiveness did not imply support for physical discipline. There was a strong theme of unease with its use but a lack of confidence in finding any alternatives. Contextual concerns about the application and short term negative effects of physical discipline are analysed as containing six dominant themes: whether the acts fulfilled legitimate purposes; avoidance of pain or injury; the extent of adult control of actions; the degree of embarrassment and humiliation; the precise bodily target of force; and the appropriate age of the child. The study found that these reservations led to participants introducing relatively fixed contingencies that physical discipline would have to meet in order for it to be considered acceptable. It is noted that the terms child abuse and violence were reserved by young participants for acts with specific characteristics which mark them as particularly unacceptable. Child abuse referred to acts without a legitimate purpose which focused on the needs of the adult rather than the child. Violence referred to acts in which the adult does not observe an appropriate limit to the force. Concerns about the longer term implications of physical discipline are identified as focused on the risks of: these fixed contingencies being broken by the adult; lasting physical or psychological damage; damage to the disciplinary relationship; and the child copying the behaviour inappropriately. Conversely, it is found that there was a subsidiary theme of concern that children not receiving physical discipline would grow up spoilt and wild with negative implications for wider society. The rights of adults to physically discipline children were assessed by young participants according to perceptions about the particular relationship and the constituents' social roles. Parental rights were presented by participants as exceptional because of a parents responsibility for a child's moral development and peculiar intimacy with a child. Parental delegation of rights to other adults, including teachers, was rejected by young participants because these relationships lack this intimacy. However, the study reveals a theme of resilient frustration at the 'unfairness' of one-sided rights surrounding all physical discipline. Moreover, it is found that young participants analysed acts of physical discipline as manifestations of a power imbalance in the adult-child relationship. Although young participants noted that adults can take advantage of their position, they also presented children as active agents who find strategies to challenge this power imbalance. A substantial body of opinion considered that the risks outweighed the rights of adults and necessitated a legal ban on all physical discipline, although participants were concerned with practical problems which might be caused by a gap between legal and attitudinal change in society. Overall, the study identifies two dominant discourses underlying young participants' perceptions of physical discipline: developmentalism, which portrays childhood as a natural progression towards competency; and rights, which stresses the fixed entitlements and responsibilities for active agents and social actors irrespective of competency. These two discourses are accommodated in the young participants' model of a dynamic power balance between active social actors in the disciplinary relationship. The perceptions of young people presented in this study form a competent and sophisticated interpretation and critique of adults' use of physical discipline. Moreover, the study identifies substantial differences between the young participants' perceptions and the views expressed by the carers interviewed and actors in the wider legal, political and research debates. These differences highlight peculiar features in young people's perceptions. For example, young participants stressed the purpose of physical discipline for moral development, whereas both carers and the adult debates have focused on social development and obedience to adult authority. The contingencies which young participants placed on disciplinary acts were less flexible than carers' across different situations. Young participants' rejection of parental rights to delegate disciplinary rights was not shared by carers or featured in the adult debates. Carers did not share young participants' concerns with the imbalance of rights and power in disciplinary relationships with physical force. The study concludes by underlining the implications for policy, practice and research on physical discipline that are presented by the distinct perspectives of young people.

An epidemiological survey of the frequency and severity of aggressive and disruptive behaviors found in elementary school classrooms was conducted. One hundred and forty regular education and special education teachers from the area surrounding Tucson, Arizona rated 12 classroom behavior problems for 3,135 male and female, Anglo and Hispanic students. Teachers' ratings were found to differ according to student ethnicity and gender. Anglos were rated as displaying more severe behavior problems in the classroom than Hispanics and males were rated as displaying more severe behavior problems than females. Consistent with these findings, different factor structures were identified for teacher ratings of male and female, and Anglo and Hispanic students. Implications of these findings for educators, administrators, and school psychologists are discussed.

To determine the relationships among perceived contingency of parental reinforcements, depression, and locus of control, 66 male and 54 female undergraduate university students completed questionnaire measures. Significant relationships were obtained between depression and locus of control for both sexes. Also, subjects of both sexes who described their parents as having administered rewards and punishments more noncontingently tended to describe themselves as more external and as more depressed. Parental rewards were perceived by both sexes as administered more noncontingently than punishments. Females tended to perceive parental rewards as delivered more noncontingently than did males. All the intercorrelations among perceived contingency of parental reinforcement, locus of control, and depression were in the prediction direction.

Ninety college students served as subjects in research to investigate possible relationships between fear of death, religious doubt, and child-rearing practices. The following hypotheses were tested: 1) contingent childrearing practices would correlate negatively with religious doubt, 2) religious doubt would correlate positively with fear of death, and 3) contingent child-rearing practices would correlate negatively with fear of death. The second hypothesis was supported. Additional analyses revealed that those who changed religious preference from childhood to the present had lower fear of death scores than those who retained the same beliefs. The sample was also divided into religious and nonreligious groups. The religious group as a whole and religious females were found to have scored significantly higher on paternal contingent punishment. Religious individuals in the total sample also scored significantly higher on parental contingent punishment.

To determine if home economics child development education affected disciplinary techniques used by parents of kindergarten children, 298 parents of kindergarten children completed an eleven-part questionnaire. Comparisons were made of disciplinary techniques used, five categories of child development education, and five levels of education. Educational level appeared to affect parental disciplinary techniques more than child development education. As educational level increased, the use of punitive and reasoning techniques, the use of sources for learned disciplinary techniques, and parental reaction to stress concerning discipline all increased. It is suggested that parental expectations increased as educational level increased. Frustration with disciplining increased punitiveness and reaction to stress. Educational skills encouraged adoption of disciplinary sources.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract