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Running Head: Student Views on Corporal Punishment

Project 1 The Views of Tuskegee University Students on Corporal Punishment & Spanking Yasmin Berry SOWK 300 Tuskegee University October 7, 2011

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Abstract There are many different views on if corporal punishment and spanking should be used as a means of discipline. Corporal punishment is the purposeful infliction of pain as a form of punishment for wrongdoing. The various types of methods used in corporal punishment include spanking, beating, and pinching. As children most have experienced a form of corporal punishment. A survey was administered to Tuskegee University students to assess their views on corporal punishment.

Corporal Punishment 3 Introduction I .Description of Problem- While growing up many college students have experienced some form of corporal punishment while they were younger. The surveys that were administrated allowed Tuskegee University students to give their views and opinions on corporal punishment. The main problem is to understand the views of students dealing with corporal punishment and if it is still acceptable to use as a means of discipline. When using corporal punishment as a form of discipline this can affect a childs behavior. This sometimes allows children when they become older to act in a form of repression as a defense mechanism. They tend to block out and try to forget the fact that they used to receive spankings or beatings as a form of punishment. This can sometimes lead them to not using this discipline method on their children. Others continue to use corporal punishment with their children as a form of compensation. When they were younger being unable to defend themselves against the beatings and spankings they received or mistreatment in school, they sometimes take out their weakness on their children. This just makes them feel like they are making up in an area that they lacked strengths before. As children grow up their past tend to be an important part in their future. Some children feel that their corporal punishment was just a way for their parents to abuse them. This is because the more a parent spanks their children in the same manner the less effective it becomes. For the punishment to be effective they feel that they have to use different objects such as pots, pans, shoes, etc., which causes more pain than just pinching and spanking. This can have a larger impact on the childs life and not just for the moment that they receive the punishment. In the long run a child can be very harmful to himself, others, and eventually a threat to society.

Corporal Punishment 4 II. Attributes to be Measured- The Spanking and Corporal Punishment Survey will be given to Tuskegee University students to assess their views on corporal punishment. The respondents will range in age, classification, and gender. Their responses will vary due to these three factors. They will be allowed to answer seven questions on their feelings on corporal punishment. After all the data is collected it will analyzed to understand the students upon on this subject. Through many studies age, gender, classification has an effect on ones views. During different generations certain things are accepted and certain things are not accepted. This is very important in the study to know the respondents age since it has a direct effect on their opinions on if corporal punishment is acceptable. Gender is very important too because females may view the amount of pain and the way pain is given differently than males. Another important factor is the respondents classification. While assessing the students views they will be asked a series of seven more questions. It is important to know if the students feel that it is okay to spank their children an s a means of discipline. They will answer either be yes or no to this question. They will be asked did their parents spank them as a means of discipline as a child. This answer from the previous question ultimately has a direct on if they will spank their children. The next two questions looked further into their beliefs on corporal spanking. The respondents were asked if parents should be allowed to use corporal punishment to discipline their children. This question will be answered by selecting yes or no. Based on if their answer to this question they can connect it to if they feel corporal punishment works better than other disciplinary methods that doesnt involve physical pain. From these questions we can understand a parents disciplinary style.

Corporal Punishment 5 The last three questions help us understand the effects corporal punishment has on the behavior of the respondents. The next question which is have you ever been in trouble with the police can connect to why the respondents feel certain ways about corporal punishment. Being that they answered the previous question yes or no can help us understand if they think they deserved the punishment they received as a child from their parent or guardian. Based on the punishment they received when they were younger can give us insight on if they will use corporal punishment to punish their children. This is measured on a scale from one to five with one being very unlikely and five being very likely. III. Hypothesis, expectations, or research questions- From the Spanking Survey I expect to find out the many different views Tuskegee University students have on this subject. I will learn the effect gender, classification, and age has on each respondents view. Through the many questions I will understand if majority believe corporal punishment is acceptable, if it is the best method of discipline, rather they were spanked as children, if they will spank their children, and draw conclusions to the reasons why they agree or disagree. I believe that many of the students will agree with using corporal punishment as a means of discipline because many have received this form of discipline as a child. Men will be more likely to use corporal punishment as a form as disciple more so than women. This may be because more men have been in trouble with the police and they received the same form of discipline as child. Those going through certain situations may affect the way they raise their child in order to keep them out of the same trouble they were in. IV.Rationle- I believe that many of the students will agree with corporal punishment as a form of discipline because many of them received the same form of discipline as children. Out of 100 respondents 82% were spanked as children. This has an effect on if they will spank their

Corporal Punishment 6 children because 89% answered that they believe it is okay to spank their children. Many other factors are included in their decision on if they will spank their children but these two seems to have a direct effect on if they will spank their children. Men will spank their children more so than women because they received more punishment than women did by their parents and the police. This is important because the amount of trouble they got in has a direct effect on the amount of trouble they will try to keep their children out of. They always want the best for the children and try to keep them as far away from trouble as possible.

V. Results Table 1 Age of the Respondents Age Under 21 21-24 25-40 41-54 55 and over Frequency 81 8 9 2 0 Percent 81.0 8.0 9.0 2.0

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Table 2 Respondents Classification Classification Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior Graduate Student Vet School Frequency 34 38 12 7 7 2 Percent 34.0 38.0 12.0 7.0 7.0 2.0

Table 3 Respondents Gender Gender Female Male Missing Frequency 58 40 2 Percent 58.0 40.0 2

Corporal Punishment 8 Table 4 Do you think it is okay to spank children as a means of discipline? Response No, not under any circumstances? Yes, under what circumstances? Frequency 11 89 Percent 11.0 89.0

Table 5 Did your parents spank you as a means of discipline? Response Yes No Frequency 82 18 Percent 82.0 18.0

Table 6 Should parents be allowed to use corporal punishment to discipline their children?

Response Yes No Missing

Frequency 65 34 1

Percent 65.0 34.0 1.0

Corporal Punishment 9 Table 7 Does corporal punishment work better than other disciplinary methods that dont involve physical pain? Response Yes No Missing Frequency 54 45 1 Percent 54.0 45.0 1.0

Table 8 Have you ever been in trouble with the police? Response Yes No Frequency 25 75 Percent 25.0 75.0

Corporal Punishment 10 Table 9 Overall, do you think that you deserved the punishment that your parents/guardians used on you when you were a child? Response Yes No Missing Frequency 76 23 1 Percent 76.0 23.0 1.0

Table 10 How likely do you think you will spank your children as a means of discipline? With 1 being very unlikely and 5 being very likely Response Very Unlikely Unlikely Neutral Likely Very Likely Frequency 10 28 25 21 16 Percent 10.0 28.0 25.0 21.0 16.0

Corporal Punishment 11 Background Questions

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The spanking survey was given to students who attend Tuskegee University. Of the students who took the survey 58% were female, 40% male, and 2% who did not provide a gender. The next factor that affected the respondents answers was their age. The ages of the respondents varied from under 21 to 55 and over. Being that this survey was given to college students majority of the respondents were under 21. The respondents that were under 21 represented 81% of the people that took the survey. The next age category was 21-24 which was only 8% and 25-50 which was 9%. For the last two age categories, 25-40 and 55 and over it was a very small amount of respondents. For 25-40 there was 2% and 55 and over had no respondents. Another important factor was the respondents classification. The classifications ranged from freshman with 34% and vet school which was only 2%. The largest amount of respondents came from the sophomore class with 38% and the junior class had 12%. There was both 7% in the senior and graduate class.

Corporal Punishment 13 Questionnaire Charts

A common question to ask someone is if they think spanking their children is okay. Any may think that since times have changed the younger generation would not approve of spanking their children anymore. Based on the results, 89% of Tuskegee University students believe that spanking their child is okay. Only 11% did not agree that spanking their children was okay. There can be any reasons why majority of the respondents agree rather than disagree. Some may feel that spanking worked for the so they may want to continue with the same tradition for their children.

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Many reasons to why people do things is because of what has happened to them in their past. That is why it was important to know if the respondents were spanked by their parents when they were children. Majority of the respondents were spanked as children because 82% responded yes to the question. Only 18% responded no that they parents did not spank them when they were children. This can have a major effect on if they will spank their children in the future.

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With the world changing and the views and opinions of people changing as well it is interesting to know rather the things that used to accept still are accepted today. When our parents were growing up it was normal and acceptable to spank your child. Not only could your parents spank you but teachers, relatives, and neighbors could as well. Now it is not as accepted because the level of spanking those parents go to. Societies they go too far that are when it is considered abused. This is why the respondents were asked if parents should be allowed to use corporal punishment to discipline their children. Out of the respondents, 65% said yes, 34% said no and 1% did not answer. This gives us insight on if corporal punishment is still accepted in todays society.

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Spanking your child just for the fun of it does not mean that they will learn their lesson or just stop doing what they are doing wrong. There are other many other methods to disciplining your child. The students were asked does corporal punishment work better than other disciplinary methods that dont involve physical pain. Some believed that physical pain was the best method to correct their childs wrong doing because 54% answered yes. On the other hand 45% believed that there are numerous other ways to punish their children without physically attacking them. Unfortunately 1% did not have a response. This may be because they felt as if both methods worked equally.

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Being in trouble with the law can have a positive effect on ones behavior or negative effect. Some us their experiences to change other peoples lives to ensure that they will not go through the same thing that they did when they were younger. Others tend to act in a negative manner and get in more trouble or allow their children to get in the same trouble that they did. Depending on your past it can ultimately affect your childs future. One may think that since the survey was given to students that attend a black university with majority African American students that most of them would have been in trouble with the police before. Based on the results that was not true because only 25% of the respondents have encountered problem with the law before, leaving 75% not having trouble with the law.

Corporal Punishment 18 Bivariate Graph

There are many different factors involved when analyzing data. When the respondents were asked if they were in trouble with the police before, it was also important to know the age of the respondents. Respondents of a younger age group ay seem to be in more trouble with the police than older respondents because of the lack of audience the younger generation received. This could be because the older respondents did not know how to teach their children how to stay out of trouble or simply overlooked the being in trouble with the law. Based on the graph the respondents there were not any respondents throughout all the age groups that were in trouble with the law. For the age group under 21 there was 22.22% that were in trouble with the law versus the 77.78% that were not in trouble with the law. It was interesting to see that the age group of 25-40 had more respondents that have been in trouble

Corporal Punishment 19 with the law than they had who had not. There was 55.56% that had been in trouble before and 44.44% that said they were not in trouble with the law. One would expect these results would be different due to the different age groups and that the respondents of the older group would have been in less trouble with the law. Age does affect the chances that someone has been in trouble with the police before. Multivariate Graph

The classification and the gender of a respondent had an effect on if they ever been in trouble with the police before. This is important because any times one may think that it is

Corporal Punishment 20 normal for an able to be in trouble with the law more so than a female. Based on the results for the respondents that were in their freshman and sophomore year women tend to be in more trouble with the law then males. For respondents in their sophomore year there was 22.22% of females that were in trouble with the law before while only 6.67% of males were in trouble. The large amount of difference could be due to the amount of males in college. Most of the males that do get in trouble with the law more so choose not to go to college and stay in the life that they are comfortable with. No matter the gender of the respondents but after their sophomore year in college more less of them were in trouble with the law. This could be due to the fact that they are getting more serious about college and less time to mess around. Bivariate Graph

Corporal Punishment 21 The graph represents the views of respondents of different age groups on if they think it is okay to spank their children. Each age group is represented which is under 21, 21-24, 25-40, and 41-54. Their responses are measured by percent and their answers were either yes or no. For all age groups the majority answered yes they think it is okay to spank their children except for the age group of 41-54. The respondents in this age group agreed 50% that it was okay to spank their children and the other half said it was not okay. For the age group of 25-40, 100% said it was okay to spank their children. It was interesting to see that 88.89% of the age group of under 21 still believed that it is okay to spank their children. Multivariate Graph

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Very few respondents find wrong in spanking your child. The age and the gender had little to no effect on the respondents belief because they are very similar. For female respondents 25-40, 100% believed it was okay to spank their child. Comparing it to the ales of the same age group it too had 100% respondents who believed it was okay to spank their children. For females 21-24 only77.78% of the respondents believed that it was okay to spank your children. Where for the males in the same age category it had 100% who believed that spanking was okay. Even though there are other methods of punishment these particular college students feel that physical pain is the best method to discipline your children. This can be because they experienced the same form of discipline or they dont think anything else will work.

Corporal Punishment 23 Bivariate Graph

This graph represent if respondents of different age groups feel if corporal punishment works better than other disciplinary methods that do not involve physical pain. For the age group under 21 their feelings were very close because 55% said yes and 45% said no. this could be a result to if they received this type of punishment as a child and how it affected their behavior. Many of the other age groups had similar views as well, such as the 25-40, because 44.44% said yes there are other methods and 55.56% said there was no other method. Now that parents are disciplining their children less and children are getting into more trouble with the law it is not surprising to see that many think that there are other methods to punishing children.

Corporal Punishment 24 Summary & Conclusion

It is always important to understand the methods that are being used to discipline our children. This is because children are our future and they create the next generation. If we overlook the way we treat the and how they are disciplined this can cause many problems throughout society. Due to the any questions on how children were disciplined and how it has an effect on children a survey was given out to the students of Tuskegee University. This survey allowed any students to express their feeling of corporal punishment as a means of discipline. They were asked questions such as if their parents spanked them and if they were going to spank their children. With the various results we can see how the cycle will continue. Out of the respondents 89% found it okay to spank their children as a means of discipline. This can result in the same outcome as the respondents have now. If they were to adapt more methods besides spanking then there can be fewer children in trouble with the police. There are any other methods that do not involve physical pain to children. If one constantly spanks their child it can eventually turn into abuse. This can lead to serious mental and physical problems for the child and for his for future family. In the future there should also be surveys given to people whom do not attend college to assess the difference in the views amongst the different groups. The more diverse the respondents are the responses would vary more. Based upon Tuskegee University respondents, corporal punishment is still effective in disciplining children.

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