“There’s Not One Way to Do It:”: Latina Mothers’ Discipline Techniques

Abstract

Discipline is one of the most challenging tasks for parents of young children. Parental choices of discipline can vary greatly by race and ethnicity (Coley et al., 2014). Research on Latino families’ choices of discipline has been inconsistent and from a deficit lens (Rodriguez, 2008). The current qualitative study uses a Funds of Knowledge framework to understand how Latina mothers from the Western United States with young children make decisions about disciplining their children. A thematic analysis of 42 interviews revealed that discipline choices were grounded in the mothers’ upbringing, education, and work history. The results of this study can inform parent educators, family therapists, and pediatricians to recognize that Latina mothers are not a homogeneous group and understand the underlying factors that determine their disciplinary strategies to better support their effort to discipline their children.

Keywords

Latina mothers child discipline early childhood funds of knowledge child development

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