Spoil the Rod and Save the Child: Socioeconomic Predictors of Harsh Discipline by Parents, Egyptian Case Study.

The purpose of this article is to investigate the use of harsh disciplinary methods by parents as corrective techniques for their children, and the resulting behavioral aspects in the affected children. Sociodemographic predictors are tested for estimating the impact of harsh disciplining by parents. A primary survey of a sample of 1,751 children 10 to 12 years of age across 12 provinces of Assiut Governorate in Egypt is considered. The analysis is carried out using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Structural equation modeling is used for testing the significance of the seven predictors. The findings show that harsh disciplining is significantly affected by the age, education level, income level, and marital status of parents. Harsh disciplining is evident for different dimensions: "beating for discipline," "beating while children grow up," "beating with a stick can discipline children," and "children should not be listened to." Some parents believe that beating will help in correcting the behavior of their children and in instilling desirable attitudes in them. This approach has ill effects, but it can only be corrected by addressing the poor economic conditions and education of the parents.