Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2021-8
Slapping Them Into Heaven? Individual and Social Religiosity,Religious Fundamentalism,and Belief in Heaven and Hell as Predictors of Support for Corporal Punishment
Support for corporal punishment (CP) has been associated with religiosity. Yet, little is known about which aspects of religiosity predict support for CP. To close this gap in the literature, we investigated how individual and social religiosity, religious fundamentalism, belief in heaven, belief in hell, and demographic variables contribute for the support of CP. We analyzed population-based cross-sectional data, as gathered in the General Social Survey, with a final sample size of n = 671. Using ordinal regression, we found that increased support for CP was best predicted by belief in heaven and religious fundamentalism. These results suggest that support for CP seems to emerge mainly from absolute belief in divine reward and retribution. Religious parents might endorse CP as a means to ensure that their children enter heaven.
AfifiT. O.MotaN.SareenJ.MacMillanH. L. (2017). The relationships between harsh physical punishment and child maltreatment in childhood and intimate partner violence in adulthood. BMC Public Health, 17, Article 493. doi:10.1186/s12889-017-4359-8
2.
BellerJ. (2017). Religion and militarism: The effects of religiosity, religious fundamentalism, religious conspiracy belief, and demographics on support for military action. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 23, 179-182.
3.
BellerJ.BaierD. (2013). Differential effects: Are the effects studied by psychologists really linear and homogeneous?Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 9, 378-384.
4.
BellerJ.KrögerC. (2017). Is religious fundamentalism a dimensional or a categorical phenomenon? A taxometric analysis in two samples of youth from Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 9, 158-164.
5.
BellerJ.KrögerC. (2018a). Differential effects from aspects of religion on female genital mutilation/cutting. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. Advance online publication. doi:10.1037/rel0000177
6.
BellerJ.KrögerC. (2018b). Religiosity, religious fundamentalism, and perceived threat as predictors of Muslim support for extremist violence. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 10, 345-355. doi:10.1037/rel0000138
7.
BellerJ.KrögerC.HosserD. (2019). Prädiktoren der Delinquenz bei adoleszenten Muslimen. Religiosität, religiöser Fundamentalismus und wahrgenommene religiöse Diskriminierung [Predictors of delinquency in adolescent Muslims: Religiosity, religious fundamentalism and perceived religious discrimination]. Forensische Psychiatrie, Psychologie, Kriminologie, 13, 188–198. doi:10.1007/s11757-019-00523-w
8.
BohnerG.DickelN. (2011). Attitudes and attitude change. Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 391-417.
9.
CarothersS. S.BorkowskiJ. G.LefeverJ. B.WhitmanT. L. (2005). Religiosity and the socioemotional adjustment of adolescent mothers and their children. Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 263-275.
10.
CoontzP. D.MartinJ. A. (1988). Understanding violent mothers and fathers: Assessing explanations offered by mothers and fathers of their use of control punishment. In HotalingG. T.FinkelhorD.KirkpatrickJ. T.StrausM. A. (Eds.), Family abuse and its consequences: New directions in research (pp. 77-90). Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
EllisonC. G.BradshawM. (2009). Religious beliefs, sociopolitical ideology, and attitudes toward corporal punishment. Journal of Family Issues, 30, 320-340.
13.
FergusonC. J. (2013). Spanking, corporal punishment and negative long-term outcomes: A meta-analytic review of longitudinal studies. Clinical Psychology Review, 33, 196-208.
14.
FriedmanM.RholesW. S. (2008). Religious fundamentalism and terror management. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 18, 36-52.
15.
GershoffE. T. (2002). Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 539-579.
16.
GershoffE. T. (2013). Spanking and child development: We know enough now to stop hitting our children. Child Development Perspectives, 7, 133-137.
17.
GershoffE. T.Grogan-KaylorA. (2016). Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses. Journal of Family Psychology, 30, 453-469.
18.
GingesJ.HansenI.NorenzayanA. (2009). Religion and support for suicide attacks. Psychological Science, 20, 224-230.
19.
GreenbergJ.PyszczynskiT.SolomonS. (1986). The causes and consequences of the need for self-esteem: A terror management theory. In BaumeisterR. F. (Ed.), Public self and private self (pp. 189-207). New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.
20.
GunnoeM. L. (2013). Associations between parenting style, physical discipline, and adjustment in adolescents’ reports. Psychological Reports, 112, 933-975.
21.
HirschiT.StarkR. (1969). Hellfire and delinquency. Social Problems, 17, 202-213.
22.
HoldenG. W.BrownA. S.BaldwinA. S.CaderaoK. C. (2014). Research findings can change attitudes about corporal punishment. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38, 902-908.
23.
HoodR. W.HillP. C.WilliamsonW. P. (2005). The psychology of religious fundamentalism. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
24.
JohnsonD.KrügerO. (2004). The good of wrath: Supernatural punishment and the evolution of cooperation. Political Theology, 5, 159-176.
25.
KliemS.ForanH.HahlwegK. (2015). Lässt sich körperliche Bestrafung durch ein Elterntraining reduzieren? Ergebnisse einer 3-Jahres-Längsschnittuntersuchung [Can corporal punishment be reduced by parent training? Results of a 3-year longitudinal study.]. Kindheit und Entwicklung, 24, 37-46.
26.
KnerrW.GardnerF.CluverL. (2013). Improving positive parenting skills and reducing harsh and abusive parenting in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review. Prevention Science, 14, 352-363.
27.
LansfordJ. E.CappaC.PutnickD. L.BornsteinM. H.Deater-DeckardK.BradleyR. H. (2017). Change over time in parents’ beliefs about and reported use of corporal punishment in eight countries with and without legal bans. Child Abuse & Neglect, 71, 44-55.
28.
LaurinK.ShariffA. F.HenrichJ.KayA. C. (2012). Outsourcing punishment to God: Beliefs in divine control reduce earthly punishment. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279, 3272-3281.
29.
LeeS. J.AltschulI.GershoffE. T. (2015). Wait until your father gets home? Mother’s and fathers’ spanking and development of child aggression. Children and Youth Services Review, 52, 158-166.
30.
PaloutzianR. F.ParkC. L. (2014). Handbook of the psychology of religion and spirituality. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
31.
PettsR. J.Kysar-MoonA. E. (2012). Child discipline and conservative Protestantism: Why the relationship between corporal punishment and child behavior problems may vary by religious context. Review of Religious Research, 54, 445-468.
32.
RegaladoM.SareenH.InkelasM.WissowL. S.HalfonN. (2004). Parents’ discipline of young children: Results from the national survey of early childhood health. Pediatrics, 113, 1952-1958.
33.
RobinsonD. H.FunkD. C.BethA.BushA. M. (2005). Changing beliefs about corporal punishment: Increasing knowledge about ineffectiveness to build more consistent moral and informational beliefs. Journal of Behavioral Education, 14, 117-139.
34.
RodriguezC. M.HendersonR. C. (2010). Who spares the rod? Religious orientation, social conformity, and child abuse potential. Child Abuse & Neglect, 34, 84-94.
35.
RyanR. M.KalilA.Ziol-GuestK. M.PadillaC. (2016). Socioeconomic gaps in parents’ discipline strategies from 1988 to 2011. Pediatrics, 138, e20160720. doi:10.1542/peds.2016-0720
36.
SandersM. R. (2012). Development, evaluation, and multinational dissemination of the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 8, 345-379.
37.
ShadishW.CookT. D.CampbellD. T. (2002). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
38.
ShariffA. F.RhemtullaM. (2012). Divergent effects of beliefs in heaven and hell on national crime rates. PLoS ONE, 7, e39048. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039048
39.
SmithT. W. (1984). The polls: Gender and attitudes toward violence. Public Opinion Quarterly, 48, 384-396.
40.
StekhovenD. J.BühlmannP. (2012). MissForest—Non-parametric missing value imputation for mixed-type data. Bioinformatics, 28, 112-118.
41.
StrausM. A. (2010). Prevalence, societal causes, and trends in corporal punishment by parents in world perspective. Law and Contemporary Problems, 73, 1-30.
UnneverJ. D.CullenF. T. (2006). Christian fundamentalism and support for capital punishment. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 43, 169-197.
44.
ViethV. I. (2005). Unto the third generation: A call to end child abuse in the United States within 120 years. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 12, 5-54.
45.
ViethV. I. (2014). From sticks to flowers: Guidelines for child protection professionals working with parents using scripture to justify corporal punishment. William Mitchell Law Review, 40, 907-942.
46.
WebbT. L.SheeranP. (2006). Does changing behavioral intentions engender behavior change? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 249-268.
47.
WilliamsonP. W.HoodR. W.Jr.AhmadA.SadiqM.HillP. C. (2010). The intratextual fundamentalism scale: Cross-cultural application, validity evidence, and relationship with religious orientation and the Big 5 factor markers. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 13, 721-747.
48.
WolfJ. P.KeppleN. J. (2019). Individual- and county-level religious participation, corporal punishment, and physical abuse of children: An exploratory study. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 34(19), 3983-3994. doi:10.1177/0886260516674197
49.
YsseldykR.MathesonK.AnismanH. (2010). Religiosity as identity: Toward an understanding of religion from a social identity perspective. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14, 60-71.
50.
ZwingmannC.KleinC.BüssingA. (2011). Measuring religiosity/spirituality: Theoretical differentiations and categorization of instruments. Religions, 2, 345-357.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
