Parental Discipline and Anxiety & DepressionFord, K., Laver, M., MS, & Bradley A., PhD

Participants • 133 undergraduate students• 108 identified as female; 25 male• Mean age = 20.54 years• Race/ethnicity of participants: 91%

White, Non-Hispanic; 6% Asian; 2.3% American Indian or Alaska Native; .8% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

• Most reported mother was main disciplinarian (58%); father/step-father (28%); both (13%)

Procedures• Completed questionnaires online:

demographics, parental discipline methods, the New General Self-Efficacy Scale (NGSES; Chen, Gully, & Eden, 2001), and the Anxiety and Depression scales of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R; Derogatis, 1994).

• Parental discipline methods questionnaire asked was two-part:

• Did parents use that method?• Do you think their use was

excessive in intensity, frequency, or both?

Results

Discussion

Previous literature investigates relationships between parental discipline methods, both physical and psychological, with long term psychological function such as depression, self-esteem, and externalizing behavior (e.g., Afifi, Brownridge, Cox, & Sareen, 2006; Briere & Runtz, 1988; Miller-Perrin, Perrin, & Kocur, 2009). The current study investigated similar variables as studies mentioned including the impact of parental discipline methods on college students' current levels of depression and self-efficacy, in addition to anxiety levels. The students' perception of excessiveness of their parents' discipline methods, including psychological aggression, was taken into account. The study is acting as a pilot study in order to investigate the general relationships between the discussed variables.

References

Method

AbstractData Analyses• Conducted 3 one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) for punishments used during grades K-5: Physical,

Emotional/Verbal , & Loss/Taking Away and 3 ANOVAs for grades 6-12 using the same punishment categories• For each IV, there were 3 groups: Excessive, Not Excessive, Not Applicable, and each ANOVA used 2 dependent

variables: Anx/Dep scores & NGSES scores• Significant differences are displayed in the graphs below.• For the Loss/Taking Away in both grade categories, the amount of variance within each IV group was too high to

allow for accurate analyses.

Afifi, T. O., Brownridge, D. A., Cox, B. J., & Sareen, J. (2006). Physical punishment, childhood abuse and psychiatric disorders. Child Abuse & Neglect, 30(10), 1093-1103.

Briere, J., & Runtz, M. (1990). Differential adult symptomatology associated with three types of child abuse histories. Child Abuse & Neglect, 14(3), 357-364.

Chen, G., Gully, S., & Eden, D. (2001). Validation of a New General Self-Efficacy Scale. Organizational Research Methods, 4(1), 62-83.Derogatis, L. R. (1994). Symptom Checklist-90-R: Administration, Scoring, and Procedures Manual. Minneapolis: NCS Pearson, Inc.Miller-Perrin, C. L., Perrin, R. D., & Kocur, J. L. (2009). Parental physical and psychological aggression: Psychological symptoms in

young adults. Child Abuse & Neglect, 33(1), 1-11.

Conclusions• Perceiving parental use of physical discipline

methods as excessive when used in early years may lead to increased mental health concerns, such as anxiety or depression

• If parents used emotional/verbal punishment during early years, children may be at greater risk of having anxiety, depression or other mental health concerns

• In later years, those who perceived the emotional/verbal punishments as excessive showed increased anxiety/depression symptoms

• The use of timeouts, taking away privileges, and other removal tactics may not have any influence on mental health outcomes during college

Limitations• Study is still in progress• Predominantly white, female participants• Some discipline methods had a large number of Not

Applicable, or Not Excessive participants• Bias answers due to title of study• Accuracy of self-report, memory and bias

Future Considerations• Each parent’s disciplinary actions• Perception of relationship with parent• Religion of parent• Look at the Loss/Taking Away questions individually