Physical Punishment in Israeli Arab Families: Attitudes and Behavior

Abstract

The attitude to the use of physical punishment and its actual use as reported by Israeli Arab parents and their children is examined. Participants were both parents and one child in each of 50 Christian Arab families. The three questionnaires developed for this research are based on in-depth interviews conducted with 10 non-participant parents in the final study. The questionnaires are: Attitudes to Physical Punishment, Physical Punishment, and Children's Misbehavior. The main results show no difference in family members' attitude to the use physical punishment. Their mean scores indicate an ambivalent acceptance of this practice, but the great majority of the subjects report its use with some frequency. More than half the mothers and the children report the use of physical punishment at least 1-2 times a week. Mothers' and fathers' attitudes were found highly correlated and significant predictors of such behavior. By all three groups' accounts, mothers much more than fathers use physical punishment, while it is the fathers whom the children fear the most. Also, parents' most frequent reaction to all seven different categories of children's misbehavior is verbal violence. Their second most frequent reported reaction is physical punishment. All results are discussed in the context of Israeli-Arab culture, the social situation model, and the relevant research.