Corporal Punishment Cessation

Abstract

This article examines the cessation of corporal punishment by parents who start out spanking their children and then make a concerted effort to stop. Drawing on semistructured interviews with 22 parents, the qualitative analysis identifies five contexts in which those concerted efforts arose: experiential, ideological, regulatory, relational, and biographical. The key features of each context are discussed, and case descriptions are provided. Although parents' reasons for quitting vary, cessation is generally associated with new meanings that turn old beliefs into excuses and that define nonspanking as progress. It is argued that cessation should be conceptualized as a social process and as part of a corporal punishment career and not simply as a behavioral omission. These data suggest that cultural inducements and social support may be as important as learning alternative disciplinary techniques in explaining parents' cessation efforts. The implications for a better understanding of reductions in corporal punishment are discussed.

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