This thesis is based on a research study examining the extent to which cultural background and cultural factors are taken into account by Child Protection Workers investigating allegations of child maltreatment due to inappropriate or excessive punishment. Profiles of child discipline practices within a cultural and historical context were developed and qualitative and quantitative data was gathered through a survey questionnaire sent to all the metropolitan offices of Family and Children's Services. Data was also collected from ethnic leaders, some of their community members and from refugees. The data collected was examined in relation to Child Maltreatment Guidelines of Family & Children's Services and current Child Protection Laws in Western Australia, with a particular focus on practice implications for child protection workers.

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.

The purpose of this study is to explore Muslims’ parenting styles and determine how factors such as religion, education, income, physical and verbal punishment experienced as a child, and the perception of Islamic childrearing influence their parenting styles. The research focuses on the main tenets of parenting in the Islamic tradition such as fatherhood, motherhood, children’s and parent’s rights and responsibilities, discipline methods, and physical punishment. The study also informs the role of marriage in Islam and the adopted concepts and theories of Western sociological literature. Findings show that authoritative parenting was the most predominant parenting style among study participants. The study also revealed that those who frequently read the Qur’an tended to be less authoritarian. Parents that experienced physical punishment as a child and who think Islam allows spanking were more likely to sponsor an authoritarian parenting style. The study findings provide insights into the complex roles of religion and parenting in Muslim groups.

<p>Cilj istraţivanja je bio da ispita efekte opaţenog iskustva disciplinovanja, na uverenja o disciplinovanju dece u mlaĊem odraslom dobu, kao i ulogu uslova i naĉina na koji je roditeljska disciplina sprovoĊena, u relacionom odnosu iskustva i aktuelnih uverenja o disciplinovanju. Iskustva disciplinovanja iz detinjstva su operacionalizovana preko &scaron;irokog spektra roditeljske korektivne discipline, tj. kaţnjavajućih i nekaţnjavajućih postupaka prilikom korigovanja neprimerenih pona&scaron;anja dece. Pored roditeljske disciplinske prakse, okolnosti disciplinovanja su operacionalizovane i preko uslova u okviru kojih je sprovoĊena disciplina (emocionalna klima, partnerski<br />iii<br />konflikti, neefikasnost u disciplinovanju) i naĉina na koji su roditelji korigovali pona&scaron;anja dece (toplina i doslednost, fleksibilnost, taktiĉnost/impulsivnost). Uverenja o disciplinovanju su operacionalizovana preko dimenzija pozitivne discipline, kaţnjavajuće discipline, te disciplinovanja uskraćivanjem ljubavi i agresivno&scaron;ću.<br />U uzorak istraţivanja je ukljuĉeno 276 studenata Univerziteta u Novom Sadu, pri ĉemu je broj studentkinja bio ne&scaron;to veći i iznosi 55%. Od ukupog broja, 79% ispitanika je odraslo sa oba roditelja, a 64% se izjasnilo da potiĉe iz porodice proseĉnog materijalnog statusa. Najveći broj roditelja ima srednji nivo obrazovanja (majke 64%, oĉevi 68%).<br />Prilikom prikupljanja podataka kori&scaron;ćena je testovna baterija, Inventar dimenzija disciplinovanja - forma za odrasle (Dimensions of Discipline Inventory Adult-recall form - DDI A), ĉiji su autori Straus i Fauchier (2007). Pored procene disciplinskih postupaka roditelja, DDI A omogućava procenu uslova i naĉina koji su bili dominantni u tim situacijama, a vezani su za period detinjstva, kada su ispitanici imali 10 godina, tako da su dobijeni podaci retrospektivne prirode. TakoĊe, bateriju saĉinjava i skala kognitivne procene korektivnih postupaka roditelja prema deci (uverenja o disciplinovanju), te skala sociodemografskih podataka. Kako je DDI A inventar kod nas prvi put upotrebljen upravo za potrebe ovog istraţivanja, pored prevoda instrumenta, sprovedena je i provera strukture i psihometrijskih karakteristika. Rezultati faktorske analize ukazuju na manje stabilnu strukturu instrumenta na domaćem uzorku, u odnosu na originalna istraţivanja, &scaron;to se moţe pripisati kulturolo&scaron;kim specifiĉnostima roditeljskog disciplinovanja. Psihometrijske karakteristike svih skala u inventaru su zadovoljavajuće.</p><p>Proverom hipotetskog modela, utvrĊeni su direktni efekti koje demografske karakteristike i iskustvo disciplinovanja ostvaruju na uverenja o disciplinovanju mladih odraslih, a pored toga, utvrĊeni su i moderatorski efekti disciplinskih okolnosti na aktuelna uverenja o kaţnjavajućoj disciplini. Znaĉajne interakcije su utvrĊene za disciplinsko pona&scaron;anje oĉeva (stroga i restriktivna disciplina) i majki (suoĉavanje sa posledicama neprimerenih pona&scaron;anja, fiziĉka i psiholo&scaron;ka agresivnost), u odnosu na specifiĉne uslove (partnerski konflikti) i naĉine (taktiĉnost/impulsivnost) disciplinovanja. Rezultati su diskutovani u svetlu teorije socijalnog uĉenja, u smislu potvrde efekata neposrednog iskustva disciplinovanja na uverenja o disciplinovanju u mlaĊem odraslom dobu, kao i potvrde znaĉaja disciplinskih okolnosti, tj. specifiĉnih uslova i naĉina na koji je disciplinovanje sprovoĊeno. Pored toga, razmatrane su i praktiĉne implikacije rezultata istraţivanja u kontekstu aktuelne izmene zakonske regulative, vezane za mogućnost uvoĊenja zabrane fiziĉkog kaţnjavanja, kao i<br />v<br />znaĉaja kulturolo&scaron;kih karakteristika disciplinovanja u planiranju i sprovoĊenju izmena roditeljske disciplinske prakse.</p> / <p>The aim of the research was to examine the observed effects of early discipline experiences in relation with the parents on beliefs on disciplining of young adults, as well as to examine the role of context in which parental discipline is conducted. The experiences of discipline in childhood were operationalised through a wide spectrum of parental correctional discipline i.e. punitive and non-punitive acts which are used while correcting child&lsquo;s misbehavior.<br />Besides disciplinary behavior practice of a parent, the discipline settings were operationalised through the context under which the discipline is conducted (emotional climate, relationship conflicts, discipline inefficiency) and the modes parents used in order to correct their children&lsquo;s behaviour (affection, consistency, flexibility, tactfulness, impulsiveness). The discipline beliefs were operationalised through positive discipline, punitive discipline as well as disciplining by love withdrawal and aggression.</p><p>The sample consists of 276 students from the University of Novi Sad. The number of female students was slightly higher and amounts to 55% of the total students. 79% of the students grew up in the families with both parents, and 64% claimed to have belonged to middle class families. The majority of their parents had secondary education (64% of mothers, 68% of fathers).<br />In the process of data collecting, the test battery -Dimensions of Discipline Inventory Adult recall form &ndash; DDI A, whose authors are Straus and Fauchier (2007), was used. Besides parent discipline behaviour evaluation, DDI A enables the evaluation of the dominant context and modes, related to childhood period when the interviewees were 10 years old. Therefore, the data gathered is of retrospective nature. Furthermore, the battery contains the scales of cognitive appraisal of different corrective acts of parents towards their children (discipline beliefs), as well as the scale of demographic data.<br />As DDI A inventory is used for the first time in Serbia for the purposes of this research, the<br />ix<br />instrument was translated and the structure with psychometric characteristics was tested. The results of factor analysis show less stable structure of the instrument on domestic sample in comparison to the original research, which can be attributed to the cultural specifications of the parental discipline. Psychometric characteristics of all the scales in the inventory are satisfactory.<br />By testing hypothetic model, direct effects of the demographic characteristics and the experience of disciplining in the childhood were established. Furthermore, the moderator effects of discipline setting based on contemporary beliefs on punitive discipline were also established. Significant interactions for discipline manner of the fathers (strict, restrictive discipline) and the mothers (dealing with consequences of misbehavior, physical and psychological aggression), based on specific context (relationship conflicts) and modes of discipline (tactfulness, impulsiveness) were also established. The results were discussed in accordance with the theory of social studies, which confirms the effects of immediate experience of the discipline on discipline beliefs during early adulthood, and also proves the importance of discipline setting, i.e. specific context and modes used for discipline conduction.<br />Practical implications of the results of this research were also analysed, as they could be taken into consideration during the current<br />x<br />changes in legislation related to possible prohibition of corporal punishment, while the importance of the cultural characteristics of the discipline should be considered during planning and implementation of the changes in discipline practice.</p>

O fenômeno da fragilização dos papéis parentais, presente na família contemporânea, está relacionado a dificuldades que os pais possuem em educar seus filhos, na atualidade, devido à insegurança e dúvidas quanto ao posicionamento que devem assumir perante os mesmos. Frente o exposto acima, esta dissertação teve como objetivo compreender a correlação entre pais que apresentavam características da fragilização dos papéis parentais com o aparecimento de comportamentos freqüentes de agressividade, teimosia e/ou agitação em crianças de dois a cinco anos de idade, num ambiente escolar. Partimos da hipótese de que crianças que estivessem manifestando estes comportamentos na escola, diante do professor, pudessem estar revelando, como num sintoma, um posicionamento enfraquecido de autoridade de seus pais. Utilizamos uma metodologia de pesquisa de campo, de delineamento de estudo de caso-controle, através da comparação entre grupos com uma abordagem qualitativa. Visamos o contato com este fenômeno pela escola. Foram realizadas observações de crianças e entrevistas semi-estruturadas com os professores e pais, contando com roteiros de entrevista previamente desenvolvidos. Finalmente, uma observação de interação lúdica dos pais com seus filhos. O material coletado foi analisado, em cada família, através de quatro categorias de análise, tendo-se como referencial teórico a psicanálise, em especial, Freud e Winnicott; bem como, a construção teórica sócio-cultural, histórica e psicológica a respeito do fenômeno em questão. Verificamos que a presença da fragilização dos papéis parentais está relacionada aos pais cujos filhos manifestavam comportamentos freqüentes de agressividade, teimosia e/ou agitação na escola. Este fenômeno sofre influências de fatores e valores contemporâneos, contudo tais influências somente são capazes de gerar conflitos quando articuladas a dificuldades nas dinâmicas do casal conjugal e parental, favorecendo, desta forma, falta de coerência e consistência no relacionamento dos pais entre si e, conseqüentemente, destes com os filhos. / The phenomenon of the Weakening of parental role, in contemporary family, nowadays, is related to difficulties that parents have in educating their children, which is due to insecurity and doubts about the position that they should assume before their children. Facing that, this dissertation aimed to understand the correlation between parents who showed characteristics of the weakening of parental role and the frequent emergence of aggressive behaviors, stubbornness and/or agitation in children from two to five years old, in a school environment. We hypothesized that the children who were expressing these behaviors at school before the teacher could be revealing, as a symptom, a weakened position of their parents authority. We used a methodology of field work, the design study of \'case-control\', through the comparison among groups with a qualitative approach. We intended the contact with this phenomenon through school. Children were observed as well as parents and teachers were interviewed with routed interviews previously developed. Finally, it was observed the playful interaction of parents and their children. The material collected was analyzed in each family, in four categories of analysis, with a theoretical reference of the psychoanalysis, particularly, Freud and Winnicott, as well as the socio-cultural, historical and psychological theoretical construct about the phenomenon. We note that the presence of the \'weakening of parental roles\' is related to parents whose children demonstrated frequent aggressive behavior, stubbornness and/or agitation in school. This phenomenon is subjected to influences of contemporary aspects and values, although those influences are only able to generate conflicts when articulated with the difficulties in the dynamics of marital and parental couple, favoring for this, the lack of coherence and consistency of parents in their own relationship and consequently, with their children.

Since becoming the first English speaking country to legislate against the physical discipline of children in 2007, there has been much debate in New Zealand for and against the parental practice of smacking. For some it has meant a welcome amendment to legislation that protects the human rights of children, for others it raises fears that parents can be criminalised for smacking their children and that the rights of parents to discipline their child, as they see fit, are being eroded. Working for an organisation that fully supports the Amendment to Section 59 of the Crimes Act, 1961 and that promotes the human rights of children; the motivating factors that encourage a parent to stop the practice of physically disciplining their child became of interest to the researcher for this thesis. Ten participants, who had used physical discipline and who had made a decision to stop the practice, were recruited to take part in a qualitative study. The data collected was analysed through a thematic analysis process using five motivational contexts found in previous research on the topic. The five contexts were experiential, relational, biographical, regulatory and ideological (Davis, 1999). The findings of the research for this thesis concur with the previous research and add further information about the motivating factors. The findings also identify the strategies that parents have found useful to achieve success in their endeavour to change their disciplinary practice. Furthermore the importance of and the distinction between the human rights of the child and parental rights have been highlighted.

O fenômeno da fragilização dos papéis parentais, presente na família contemporânea, está relacionado a dificuldades que os pais possuem em educar seus filhos, na atualidade, devido à insegurança e dúvidas quanto ao posicionamento que devem assumir perante os mesmos. Frente o exposto acima, esta dissertação teve como objetivo compreender a correlação entre pais que apresentavam características da fragilização dos papéis parentais com o aparecimento de comportamentos freqüentes de agressividade, teimosia e/ou agitação em crianças de dois a cinco anos de idade, num ambiente escolar. Partimos da hipótese de que crianças que estivessem manifestando estes comportamentos na escola, diante do professor, pudessem estar revelando, como num sintoma, um posicionamento enfraquecido de autoridade de seus pais. Utilizamos uma metodologia de pesquisa de campo, de delineamento de estudo de caso-controle, através da comparação entre grupos com uma abordagem qualitativa. Visamos o contato com este fenômeno pela escola. Foram realizadas observações de crianças e entrevistas semi-estruturadas com os professores e pais, contando com roteiros de entrevista previamente desenvolvidos. Finalmente, uma observação de interação lúdica dos pais com seus filhos. O material coletado foi analisado, em cada família, através de quatro categorias de análise, tendo-se como referencial teórico a psicanálise, em especial, Freud e Winnicott; bem como, a construção teórica sócio-cultural, histórica e psicológica a respeito do fenômeno em questão. Verificamos que a presença da fragilização dos papéis parentais está relacionada aos pais cujos filhos manifestavam comportamentos freqüentes de agressividade, teimosia e/ou agitação na escola. Este fenômeno sofre influências de fatores e valores contemporâneos, contudo tais influências somente são capazes de gerar conflitos quando articuladas a dificuldades nas dinâmicas do casal conjugal e parental, favorecendo, desta forma, falta de coerência e consistência no relacionamento dos pais entre si e, conseqüentemente, destes com os filhos. / The phenomenon of the Weakening of parental role, in contemporary family, nowadays, is related to difficulties that parents have in educating their children, which is due to insecurity and doubts about the position that they should assume before their children. Facing that, this dissertation aimed to understand the correlation between parents who showed characteristics of the weakening of parental role and the frequent emergence of aggressive behaviors, stubbornness and/or agitation in children from two to five years old, in a school environment. We hypothesized that the children who were expressing these behaviors at school before the teacher could be revealing, as a symptom, a weakened position of their parents authority. We used a methodology of field work, the design study of \'case-control\', through the comparison among groups with a qualitative approach. We intended the contact with this phenomenon through school. Children were observed as well as parents and teachers were interviewed with routed interviews previously developed. Finally, it was observed the playful interaction of parents and their children. The material collected was analyzed in each family, in four categories of analysis, with a theoretical reference of the psychoanalysis, particularly, Freud and Winnicott, as well as the socio-cultural, historical and psychological theoretical construct about the phenomenon. We note that the presence of the \'weakening of parental roles\' is related to parents whose children demonstrated frequent aggressive behavior, stubbornness and/or agitation in school. This phenomenon is subjected to influences of contemporary aspects and values, although those influences are only able to generate conflicts when articulated with the difficulties in the dynamics of marital and parental couple, favoring for this, the lack of coherence and consistency of parents in their own relationship and consequently, with their children.