When economic hardship meets chronic parental distress: Inequalities in harsh discipline toward children in the United States.

BACKGROUND

Empirical evidence has well-established that parental psychological distress is associated with an increased risk of using physical violence and verbal aggression against children. However, less is known about the associations between long-term parental distress and the use of scolding and spanking, and how these associations differ across income levels. Addressing these gaps is crucial for deepening our understanding of social inequalities in physical violence and verbal aggression against children, a key to clarifying the needs of children whose parents have chronic mental health difficulties and live in low-income status.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to clarify the risk of parental usage of spanking and scolding under chronic psychological distress and its variance by low-income contexts.

METHODS

Data were drawn from the 2019, 2020, and 2021 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (N = 1167). Latent profile analysis was conducted to examine the heterogeneity of long-term parental psychological distress. Subsequently, generalized linear models were employed to assess the associations between long-term parental psychological distress and the use of scolding and spanking, as well as how these associations vary by income poverty status. Sample weight was applied.

RESULTS

The parental use of spanking against children is higher under chronic psychological distress among families living in poverty, but not higher among families living in near-poverty or non-poverty status.

CONCLUSIONS

Improving household economic well-being could yield intergenerational benefits, reducing not only sustained parental psychological stress but also alleviating its risk of elevating the use of physical violence against children.