Re: screening questions for abuse vs. harsh discipline

["C M Currie" <CMCurrie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I agree with what the others are saying about leaving a mark, that the mark
needs to be defined in terms of duration and damage.  (I am against corporal
punishment, but there are cultural & legal allowances for this kind of
thing.)
Spanking with an open hand is generally considered to be a legal form of
discipline (it's worthless as discipline, of course, as others are saying)
as long as it is on the buttocks (or thighs), but not elsewhere.  In most US
jurisdictions the use of a belt, but not the buckle end is allowed (assuming
that no 'real' injury occurred) again if it is on the buttocks.
It gets more complicated because so many abusing parents prefer skin-to-skin
contact - most probably for the added humiliation as much as the sting.  I
haven't seen any determination of what is allowed in that regard.  My guess
is that 'corporal punishment accepting people' and courts would allow
skin-to-skin contact for younger children -  to me that is really dreadful
for all ages.  I witnessed a mother yank the pants down of an 11 year old
boy in a grocery store and give him what was probably a legal beating on the
buttocks in NYS, but maybe the public forced nudity might have compelled a
different legal opinion.
So one of the issues is whether you are defining abuse from a legal point of
view or as a parenting issue.
My real concern with a three-question screen is that most abusing parents
will be missed - because the variety of abuse behaviors defies the use of
very short screens.  I developed a screen several years back that was about
8 or 10 questions - - and that seemed to be the shortest that would not miss
most cases that are willing to talk.
That leads to the next problem, that most of those who are abusing will not
admit abuse in a screen either because they don't see themselves as the one
who is doing the harm or because they know they are and know the
ramifications.
CMCurrie, Ph.D.
CUNY Medical School
-----Original Message-----
From: Sandra Bishop <bishop@CDMAS.med.yale.edu>
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
<CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu>
Date: Wednesday, April 21, 1999 8:15 AM
Subject: screening questions for abuse vs. harsh discipline


>Hello,
>
>A colleague is starting to analyze data from a screening questionnaire
>and asked me to post this query.
>
>The questionnaire contains 3 items regarding parental discipline:
>
>1) Have you spanked your child more than once in the previous month?
>2) Have you ever felt like you have lost control while spanking your
>child?
>3) Have you ever left a mark from spanking your child?
>
>If a parent endorses any 2 of these 3 items, she is trying to use this as
>an indication of either: "corporal punishment"; or "harsh discipline"; or
>"potential abuse".
>
>What do you think of this?  Would endorsing 2 of the 3 items qualify as
>punishment or harsh discipline or potential abuse?
>
>
>Thank you.
>
>Sandra Bishop
>Yale Child Study Center
>