Introduction
In this research study, analysts had to make a choice between five study questions, both of which were competitively relevant and worth considering. After a series of consultations and analysis, they narrowed it down to two articles. The two topics, efficacy of behavioral couples therapy for marital distress and socioeconomic status as influencing factors in discipline methods, were criticized on the basis of preexisting academic evidence and the extent of the research gap. Other criteria used for selection included the cost of the study and ease of evaluation. Researchers agreed on the latter and gathered relevant necessities to be used during the study.
Introduction to the Research Question
According to a study by Adolescent and Peer Review, parents’ opinions regarding children’s disobedience and family woes reveal a negative correlation between socioeconomic levels and discipline. The influence of stress on discipline was modulated by the parent’s perceptions and thought functions such as concerns about the future of the child and the availability of alternative correctional tactics. Similarly, there is a direct relationship between the enforcement of discipline and cultural backgrounds (Al-Saadoon et al., 2021). For instance, African Americans tend to use harsher treatment to resolve discipline issues with their children, as cited in Child Indicator Research by Al-Saadoon. However, there are parents who rely on approachable and coherent strategies in their discipline as a result of their societal experiences, whilst others may not. In order to probe this relationship further, a research study was conducted to understand how aspects of culture, socioeconomic status, and parental disciplinary approaches are intertwined.
Summary of the Study
This study analyzes contextual factors, cognitive aspects, and parental use of physical or harsh punishment through a controlled, randomized trial. It investigates the immediate and conditioned correlation between SES, psychological issues, culture, rational emotional processes, and the use of physical and harsh punishment, in line with Al Sadoon’s suggestion that there are several patterns through which contextual influences may affect discipline responses. The researchers examined two theories of direct and mediated commonalities between SES (Social Economic Status) and control responses, together with their influence on the parenting of adolescent boys. The foundation of this paper is a breakdown of the study’s various phases backed up with the search terms used, academic resources that offered essential study guidelines, and the specific activities at every stage.
Sample Size, Type, and Sampling Strategy
All the 72 participants enrolled in this study were older than 15 years, with a composition of 71% Latino, 13% white, seven percent black, and nine percent from Asian minority groups. From each group, approximately 13 participants had been raised by strict parents, whereas 27.7% had either extremely lenient or accommodative parents (Klevens et al., 2019). The majority of the participants were drawn from major high schools and colleges in New York, New Jersey, and Los Angeles, with others from the lower Pacific region.
Recruitment
One of the main yardsticks used to recruit participants was that the volunteer’s family must have encountered tough economic times at some point in time. Adolescents with parents from high-income backgrounds were included in the placebo group for a better comparison of results. Other degrees of merit employed during the enrolment process included mastery and fluency in English or Spanish. Participants having a history with rehabilitation facilities were included in the criteria that they had been on a steady code of conduct for at least five months in order to avoid biased results. More information regarding the eligibility criteria used for the study is highlighted in the section below.
Eligibility
Other entrants outside colleges had to respond to advertisements for the study on online platforms and mass emails, while others were referred by local statisticians and regional research coordinators. This group had to either fill out a diagnostic questionnaire over the phone with the coordinator or take an online survey to assess if they fulfilled the eligibility requirements. Those who were found to be eligible were invited to a university research laboratory to give consent and participate in a three-hour baseline study assessment with trained practitioners. All eligible candidates who agreed to participate were then interviewed separately, including those in the placebo cohort. A total of seven interviews were conducted per candidate in community-based contexts to improve the external validity and generalizability of the results. The section that follows illustrates the study design template adopted for the study.
Study Design
Pubescents’ experiences with physical punishment as children and their current psychological adjustment conditions were collected using three sets of reports. The use of questionnaires allowed participants to think about and respond to the questions in their own free time. This gave researchers an easy time to compare and contrast the collected data between study cohorts. Participants could respond to the survey questions in either the original or translated form, depending on their predisposition. Experts deployed to the community-based interviews validated and translated surveys done in Spanish to guarantee intellectual comparability. In order to explore the link between the observed variables and achieve the study objectives, the data was quantified and subjected to statistical analysis.
Objectives
In a nutshell, researchers focused on the impact of socioeconomic factors on discipline responses as well as the direct and indirect effects of culture on discipline. The study employed intra-and intersectional data as part of a retrospective study of child development. The measure of punitory responses was parents’ answers to various hypothetical situations involving child disobedience. At the end of the study, parental beliefs and perceptions of their children and cognitive–emotional processes were expected to mediate the links between SES and punitory responses as well as the association between culture and retaliatory elements. The segment below highlights some of the methods that were used for the measurement of observations from the study.
Measurement Modalities
The testing phase for samples in this ethnographic research was data-driven by cluster analysis of individuals’ responses. The intensity of more proximal and intermediary procedures was greatly reduced as a result of measurement methods that substantially alleviated discrepancies in the data collected. Clusters were not based on hypothetical grounds of subgrouping, but rather were empirical, in keeping with the tentative aspect of the research. In addition, tier evaluation of cluster dendrograms, weighted geometric averages, Chi-square tests, covariance, linear Kl divergence, and binomial linkages were used to assign different weights to the responses. This made further qualitative data analysis techniques highlighted below feasible.
Data Analysis
In the first phase of the study (community-based interviews), MMTA quantified an individual’s standard statistical observations, whereas in the second stage, it analyzed aggregates of individuals’ data by providing a statistical test for disparities in sample results. Using SAS 9.3 and the p =.0505 criterion, researchers minimized the likelihood of gross randomization and various fit statistics, including the Bayesian Information Criterion, could easily be employed (Finkelhor et al., 2019). The main reason for the dual approach was to know whether adding competing covariates, survey group affiliation, and error covariance structures enhanced the accuracy of the data obtained. Autoregression, exponential moving averages, and Toeplitz factor covariance were analyzed before relevant conclusions could be drawn. The Kenward-Roger modified T-test for random samples was used to reduce the likelihood of Type-2 error, and some of the results obtained are discussed in the section that follows.
Evidence Appraisal and Results
According to autoregression analysis, the results showed a consistent trend across different data sets. Further investigations into disciplinary dimorphism in these relationships revealed that the mechanisms that contribute to discipline reactions for mothers and fathers were not significantly different. Given these findings, and in order to most effectively illustrate the process of parenting judgement, researchers pooled scores across the five cases. With regard to the five rational emotional processing cross-situational parameters, two hypothetical cross-situational variables with F (6, 764) = 7.83, p.009 had an effect on parental ethnicity and were found to be significant (Al-Saadoon et al., 2021). The three-factor baseline analysis demonstrated a main effect attributable to parent ethnicity. On average, European parents made fewer adverse attributions about their children compared to black parents, F (3, 543) = 46.56, p <.233, and were less concerned about their children’s future.
Evaluation Based on Strengths and Weaknesses
This study has some shortcomings that suggest the need for further studies. For example, the use of separate correspondents, which can lead to biasness in the feedback delivered, Conversely, the discipline measures involved an interviewer’s rating of a parent’s response to misbehavior over the previous year. The interviewer’s knowledge of the misbehavior and parent punishment responses was not factored into the rating, thus reducing the likelihood of respondent bias (Chong & Yeo, 2018). Secondly, it is possible that grouping attitudes and discipline responses may underscore within-individual variance that may exist in different settings. This hypothesis could not be adequately investigated because the study only comprised five scenarios that were not grouped and combined into more generic categories. Future research should look into the contextual origins of within-individual variance in parent cognitions, emotions, and discipline reactions even though most parents behave similarly in all of the circumstances that they encounter. These two weaknesses have been justified further in the segment below.
Justification of Evaluation
The sample size of 72 is typically too small to enable the results of the study to have any significant impact on a larger population size. It would be irrational to reciprocate this finding when drawing conclusions on socioeconomic factors in parenting for a wider demographic sample is being assessed. In order to solve this crisis, there is a need for researchers to conduct deeper and more extensive clinical trials on this topic in the future (Chong & Yeo, 2018). In the mediation of sociocultural influences, one key channel may reactively drive discipline responses via non-sentimental processes and perceptions of the child. Therefore, adolescents who are frequently stressed are more likely to rebel and, as a result, become more prone to becoming victims of severe punishment reactions. Harsh discipline is generally associated with familial instability, which can have a negative impact on children’s functioning. In that regard, any parent who is dealing with these strong processes may gain from this study by aiming at lowering their severity.
Databases and Search Terms Used in the Study
Common terms used widely in this literature include: socioeconomic status, clinical trials, discipline, familial instability, regression analysis, parental disciplinary approaches, culture, adolescents, punitory responses, punishment, and non-sentimental processes. On the other hand, the study adhered to the guidelines for conducting efficient research as cited in chapter two of Rubin’s textbook. There were thirteen articles on the study topic, but only four of them listed in the reference section contained the most recent information (2018 to 2022) and therefore became worth consideration.
Conclusion
Comparatively, the study based on culture and SES status offered the strongest empirical evidence as opposed to the one on the efficacy of behavioral couples therapy for marital distress. There was sufficient existing literature on the subject as cited throughout the research, as well as a significant research gap that the existing literature was yet to address. Concomitantly, for this study, the self-monitoring of cognitive actions and problem-solving among adolescents may serve as effective correctional tactics in receiving disciplinary judgments that are less reactive and severe. However, focusing solely on these basal processes will likely be ineffective for low-income parents who are dealing with financial crises. According to the study, African American parents from the lower classes are particularly vulnerable to the combined effects of these stress factors and other societal restraints. Therefore, culturally responsive therapies that target the specific hurdles that these parents face may be more impactful.
References
Al-Saadoon, M., Al-Adawi, M., & Al-Adawi, S. (2021). Socio-cultural constraints in protecting child rights in a society in transition: A review and synthesis from Oman.Child Indicators Research, 14(1), 239-267. Web.
Chong, C. H., & Yeo, K. J. (2018). The residue effects of parental corporal punishment on young adults’ psychological adjustment: Evidence from Malaysia.SAGE Open, 8(1), pp. 1-11. Web.
Finkelhor, D., Turner, H., Wormuth, B. K., Vanderminden, J., & Hamby, S. (2019). Corporal punishment: Current rates from a national survey.Journal of Child and Family Studies, 28(7), 1991-1997. Web.
Klevens, J., Mercer Kollar, L., Rizzo, G., O’Shea, G., Nguyen, J., & Roby, S. (2019). Commonalities and differences in social norms related to corporal punishment among Black, Latino and White parents.Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 36(1), 19-28. Web.