To test and compare theoretical explanations of the use of corporal punishment in school, the authors examine how well county-level measures of culture, socioeconomic strain, and social capital predict the prevalence and incidence of corporal punishment in Kentucky schools. Although several variables are significantly correlated with corporal punishment use, multi-variate regression analyses reveal that high socioeconomic strain and low levels of social capital are the best predictors of (a) the prevalence of corporal punishment in a county's public school system(s) and (b) a high incidence of corporal punishment in those counties where it is practiced. Explanations and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Agnew, R. (2005). Why do criminals offend? A general theory of crime and delinquency. Los Angeles: Roxbury .
2.
American Religion Data Archive. (2000). Religious congregations & membership maps and reports [Data file]. Available from www.thearda.com/test_main.asp?Show=RCMS2000
3.
Anyon, J. (1980). Social class and the hidden curriculum of work . Journal of Education, 162(1), 67-92.
4.
Anyon, J. (1981a). Elementary schooling and distinctions of social class. Interchange, 12(2/3), 118-132.
5.
Anyon, J. (1981b). Schools as agencies of social legitimation. International Journal of Political Education, 4, 195-218.
6.
Anyon, J. (1981c). Social class and school knowledge. Curriculum Inquiry, 11(1), 3-37.
7.
Arcus, D. (2002). School shooting fatalities and school corporal punishment: A look at the states. Aggressive Behavior, 28, 173-183.
8.
Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in capitalist America: Educational reform and the contradictions of economic life. New York: Basic Books.
9.
Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (2002). Schooling in capitalistic America revisited. Sociology of Education, 75(1), 1-18.
10.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1958). Socialization and class through time and space . In E. E. Maccoby, T. M. Newcomb, & E. L. Hartley (Eds.), Readings in social psychology (pp. 400-425). New York: Holt.
11.
Bryan, J.W., & Freed, F.W. (1982). Corporal punishment: Normative data and sociological and psychological correlates in a community college population. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 11(2), 77-87.
12.
Center for Effective Discipline. (2005, November). U.S.: Statistics on corporal punishment by state and race: States banning corporal punishment. Discipline at school (NCACPS). Retrieved November 24, 2005, from www.stophitting.com/disatschool/statesBanning.php
13.
Crandall, J. (2002 November 2). Support for spanking: Most Americans think corporal punishment is OK. Retrieved February 10, 2006 , from http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/spanking_poll021108.html
14.
Crouch, J.L., & Behl, L.E. (2001). Relationships among parental beliefs in corporal punishment, reported stress, and physical child abuse potential. Child Abuse and Neglect, 25, 413-419.
15.
Durkheim, E. (1933). The division of labor in society (G. Simpson, Trans.). New York: Free Press. (Original work published 1895)
16.
Durkheim, E. (1961). Moral education: A study in the theory and application of the sociology of education. New York: Free Press. (Original work published 1925)
17.
Ellison, C.G., Bartkowski, J.P., & Segal, M.L. (1996). Conservative Protestantism and the use of corporal punishment. Social Forces, 74(3), 1003-1028.
18.
Ellison, C.G., & Sherkat, D.E. (1993). Conservative Protestantism and support for corporal punishment. American Sociological Review, 58, 131-144.
19.
Grasmick, H.G., Morgan, C.S., & Kennedy, M.B. (1992). Support for corporal punishment in the schools: A comparison of the effects of socioeconomic status and religion. Social Science Quarterly, 73(1), 177-187.
20.
Hyman, I.A., & Wise, J.H. (1979). Corporal punishment in American education. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
21.
Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U.S. 651 (1977).
22.
Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services Division of Epidemiology and Health Planning. (2000). Kentucky county health profiles, 2000. Frankfort, KY: Author.
23.
Kentucky Center for School Safety. (2005). [Worksheet 8—Disciplinary actions for school board violations in Kentucky] . Unpublished raw data.
24.
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. ( 2002). KY congressional districts. Retrieved July 12, 2005, from www.lrc.ky.gov/pubserv/gis/maps.htm
25.
Kentucky State Board of Elections. (2004). Commonwealth of Kentucky-State board of elections: Voter turnout for the 11/02/04 general election [Data file]. Available from http://elect.ky.gov/stats/turnout.htm
26.
Kentucky State Police. (2001). Crime in Kentucky: 2000 crime report. Frankfort, KY: Author.
27.
Knoke, D., Bohrnstedt, G.W., & Mee, A.P. (2002). Statistics for social data analysis (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
28.
Lansford, J.E., Dodge, K.A., Malone, P.S., Bacchini, D., Zelli, A., Chaudhary, N., et al. (2005). Physical discipline and children's maladjustment: Cultural normativeness as a moderator. Child Development, 76(6), 1234-1246.
29.
McCoy-Simandle, L., May, D.C., & Chen, Y. (2005). Kentucky 2005: Safe schools data project. Richmond: Kentucky Center for School Safety.
30.
Merton, R.K. (1938). Social structure and anomie. In F. T. Cullen & R. Agnew (Eds.), Criminological theory: Past to present (pp. 176-185). Los Angeles: Roxbury.
31.
Messner, S.E., & Rosenfeld, R. (2001). Crime and the American dream. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth-Thompson .
32.
National Center for Education Statistics. ( 2000). Table 14.-Percentage of public schools reporting that specified actions other than removals, transfers and suspensions were available as disciplinary actions, by selected school characteristics: 1999-2000. Crime and Safety Surveys. Retrieved November 24, 2005, from http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ssocs/tables/table_14.asp
33.
Owen, S.S. (2005). The relationship between social capital and corporal punishment in schools: A theoretical inquiry. Youth & Society, 37(1), 85-112.
34.
Regaldo, M., Sareen, H., Inkelas, M., Wissow, L.S., & Halfon, N. (2004). Parents' discipline of young children: Results from the National Survey of Early Childhood Health. Pediatrics , 113(6), 1952-1958.
35.
Sears, R.R., Maccoby, E.E., & Levin, H. (1957). Patterns of child rearing. Oxford, UK: Row, Peterson, & Company.
Straus, M.A., & Donnelly, D.A. (2001). Beating the devil out of them: Corporal punishment in American families and its effects on children . New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
38.
Straus, M.A., & Stewart, J.H. (1999). Corporal punishment by American parents: National data on prevalence, chronicity, severity, and duration, in relation to child and family characteristics. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 2(2), 55-70.
39.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2000). Dicennial census data, 2000 [Data file]. Available from www.census.gov
40.
U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. (2005, September). Projected data. OCR elementary and secondary school survey: 2002. Retrieved November 24, 2005, from http://vistademo.beyond2020.com/ocr2002r/wdsdata.html
41.
Wauchope, B.A., & Straus, M.A. (1990). Physical punishment and physical abuse of American children: Incidence rates by age, gender, and occupational class. In M. A. Straus & R. J. Gelles (Eds.), Physical punishment in American families (pp. 133-149). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
42.
Willis, P. (1981). Cultural production is different from cultural reproduction is different from social reproduction is different from reproduction . Interchange, 12(2/3), 48-67.
43.
Willis, P. (2003). Foot soldiers of modernity: The dialectics of cultural consumption and the 21st-century school. Harvard Educational Review, 73(3), 390-415.
44.
Xu, X., Tung, Y., & Dunaway, R.G. (2000). Cultural, human, and social capital as determinants of corporal punishment: Toward an integrated theoretical model. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 55(6), 603-630.
