Abstract
INTRODUCTION: A topic often highly debated has been the use of violent punishments towards children. An important predictor for the use of violent punishment by parents is the belief in its effectiveness. The objectives of this study were to describe the prevalence and factors associated with the belief for physical punishment among Malaysian parents towards children 1 to 5 years of age. METHODS: Two stage stratified random sampling design was used in this population-based survey carried out between February and May 2016 among Malaysian parents. The questions on disciplinary practices were adapted from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) questionnaire. The respondents were also asked if they believed that physical punishment is needed to raise a child properly. Complex sample analysis was used for all analysis. RESULTS: Almost 60.0% of parents believed in the need for physical punishment, with 54.3% parents admitted to practising it. Parents who believed in physical punishment had 2.6 times odds of practising it than those who did not. Parents with three or more children (OR 2.28; 95%CI: 1.34, 3.89) compared to those with one child, and households with less than RM1000 income compared to RM 5000 and above (OR 1.77; 95%CI: 1.24, 2.53) were significantly more likely to believe in using physical punishment on their children. DISCUSSION: There is a large number of parents who practise physical punishment despite not believing in the need for it. Parents need to be taught to respond positively to childrens behaviour in difficult parenting situations.
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@proceedings{APCPH-2019-232, title = {Practice of Disciplinary Methods and Factors Associated with Belief for Physical Punishment Among Malaysian Parents}, author = {Shubash Shander Ganapathy and Rajini Sooryanarayana and Nik Mazlina Mohammad and Rosliza Abdul Manaf and Azriman Rosman}, year = {2019}, date = {2019-07-22}, urldate = {2019-07-22}, journal = {6th Asia-Pacific Conference on Public Health 2019 Proceedings}, issue = {6}, abstract = {INTRODUCTION: A topic often highly debated has been the use of violent punishments towards children. An important predictor for the use of violent punishment by parents is the belief in its effectiveness. The objectives of this study were to describe the prevalence and factors associated with the belief for physical punishment among Malaysian parents towards children 1 to 5 years of age. METHODS: Two stage stratified random sampling design was used in this population-based survey carried out between February and May 2016 among Malaysian parents. The questions on disciplinary practices were adapted from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) questionnaire. The respondents were also asked if they believed that physical punishment is needed to raise a child properly. Complex sample analysis was used for all analysis. RESULTS: Almost 60.0% of parents believed in the need for physical punishment, with 54.3% parents admitted to practising it. Parents who believed in physical punishment had 2.6 times odds of practising it than those who did not. Parents with three or more children (OR 2.28; 95%CI: 1.34, 3.89) compared to those with one child, and households with less than RM1000 income compared to RM 5000 and above (OR 1.77; 95%CI: 1.24, 2.53) were significantly more likely to believe in using physical punishment on their children. DISCUSSION: There is a large number of parents who practise physical punishment despite not believing in the need for it. Parents need to be taught to respond positively to childrens behaviour in difficult parenting situations.}, note = {Type: POSTER PRESENTATION; Organisation: Institute for Public Health, National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Malaysia, Kelana Jaya Health Clinic, Selangor Health Department, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia}, keywords = {NHMS, Parental belief, Physical punishment}, pubstate = {published}, tppubtype = {proceedings} }