A total of 138 college students were administered the Parental Acceptance Rejection/Control Questionnaire, the Physical Punishment Questionnaire, and the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale to determine if harsh and unjust corporal punishment predicted empathy. The study also investigated whether parental acceptance-rejection and gender mediated the effect of corporal punishment on empathy. Findings showed gender differences: Women reported significantly greater empathy than did men, and justness of corporal punishment related significantly and positively to empathy for men but not for women. Harshness of corporal punishment and parental acceptance-rejection did not relate to empathy regardless of gender. However, both harsh and unjust punishment related significantly to feelings of rejection for both men and women.
Adams, G. R., Jones, R. M., Schvaneveldt, J. D., & Jenson, G. O. (1982). Antecedents of affective role-taking behaviour: Adolescent perceptions of parental socialization styles.Journal of Adolescence, 5, 259-265.
2.
Bachar, E., Canetti, L., Bonne, O., DeNour, A. K., & Shalev, A. Y. (1997). Physical punishment and signs of mental distress in normal adolescents.Adolescence, 32, 945-959.
3.
Crowne, D. P., Conn, L. K., Marlowe, D., & Edwards, C. N. (1969). Some developmental antecedents of level of aspiration.Journal of Personality, 37, 73-92.
4.
Deater-Deckard, K., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (1996). Physical discipline among African American and European American mothers: Links to children’s externalizing behaviors.Developmental Psychology, 32, 1065-1072.
5.
Gershoff, E. T. (2002). Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: A meta-analytic and theoretical review.Psychological Bulletin, 128, 539-579.
6.
Gilligan, C. (1987). Adolescent development reconsidered.New Directions for Child Development, 37, 63-92.
7.
Gilligan, C. (1991). Women’s psychological development: Implications for psychotherapy.Women and Therapy, 11, 5-31.
8.
Hoffman, M. L. (1975). Moral internalization, parental power, and the nature of parent-child interaction.Developmental Psychology, 11, 228-239.
9.
Hoffman, M. L. (1994). Discipline and internalization.Developmental Psychology, 30, 26-28.
10.
Hoffman, M. L.,& Saltzstein, H. D. (1967). Parent discipline and the child’s moral development.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5, 45-57.
11.
Hower, J. T.,& Edwards, K. J. (1979). The relationship between moral character and adolescents’ perception of parental behavior.Journal of Genetic Psychology, 135, 23-32.
12.
Kalliopuska, M. (1984). Relation between children’s and parents’ empathy. Psychological Reports, 54, 295-299.
13.
Khaleque, A., & Rohner, R. P. (2002). Perceived parental acceptance-rejection and psychological adjustment: A meta-analysis of cross-cultural and intracultural studies.Journal of Marriage and the Family, 64, 54-64.
14.
Kim, S., & Rohner, R. P. (2003). Perceived parental acceptance and emotional empathy among university students in Korea.Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 34, 723-735.
15.
Krevans, J., & Gibbs, J. C. (1996). Parents’ use of inductive discipline: Relations to children’s empathy and prosocial behavior.Child Development, 67, 3263-3277.
16.
Larzelere, R. E., Klein, M., Schumm, W. A., & Alibrando, S. (1989). Relations of spanking and other parenting characteristics to self-esteem and perceived fairness of parental discipline.Psychological Reports, 64, 1140-1142.
17.
Lopez, N. L., Bonenberger, J. L., & Schneider, H. G. (2001). Parental disciplinary history, current levels of empathy, and moral reasoning in young adults.North American Journal of Psychology, 3, 193-204.
18.
Mahoney, A., Donnelly, W. O., Lewis, T., & Maynard, C. (2000). Mother and father self-reports of corporal punishment and severe physical aggression toward clinic-referred youth.Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 29, 266-281.
19.
McClelland, D. C., & Pilon, D. A. (1983). Sources of adult motives in patterns of parent behavior in early childhood.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 564-574.
20.
Mehrabian, A. (1997). Relations among personality scales of aggression, violence, and empathy: Validational evidence bearing on the risk of eruptive violence scale.Aggressive Behavior, 23, 433-445.
21.
Mehrabian, A. (2000). Manual for the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES). Unpublished manuscript. [Available from Albert Mehrabian, 1130 Alta Mesa Rd., Monterey, CA 93940]
22.
Mehrabian, A., & Epstein, N. (1972). A measure of emotional empathy. Journal of Personality, 40, 525-543.
23.
Roe, K. V. (1980). Toward a contingency hypothesis of empathy development.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 991-994.
24.
Rohner, E. C. (1980). Perceived parental acceptance-rejection and children’s reported personality and behavioral dispositions: An intracultural test.Behavior Science Research, 1, 81-88.
25.
Rohner, E. C., Rohner, R. P.,& Roll, S. (1980). Perceived parental acceptance-rejection and children’s reported behavioral dispositions: A comparative and intracultural study of American and Mexican children.Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 11, 213-231.
26.
Rohner, R. P. (1990). Handbook for the study of parental acceptance and rejection. Storrs, CT: Rohner Research.
27.
Rohner, R. P. (2001). Physical Punishment Questionnaire (PPQ): Adult. Storrs, CT: Rohner Research.
28.
Rohner, R. P. (2005). Glossary of significant concepts in parental acceptance-rejection theory (PARTheory). Retrieved May 20, 2005, from Center for the Study of Parental Acceptance and Rejection Web site: http://vm.uconn.edu/%7Erohner/glossary.html
29.
Rohner, R. P., Bourque, S. L., & Elordi, C. A. (1996). Children’s perceptions of corporal punishment, caretaker acceptance, and psychological adjustment in a poor, biracial southern community.Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 842-852.
30.
Rohner, R. P., Kean, K. J., & Cournoyer, D. E. (1991). Effects of corporal punishment, perceived caretaker warmth, and cultural beliefs on the psychological adjustment of children in St. Kitts, West Indies.Journal of Marriage and the Family, 53, 681-693.
31.
Rohner, R. P., Khaleque, A., & Cournoyer, D. E. (in press). Parental acceptance-rejection theory: Methods, evidence, and implications.Ethos, 33.
32.
Rohner, R. P., Ripoll-Núñez, K. J., Moodie, N. A., & Ruan, C.-C. (2005). Physical Punishment Questionnaire (PPQ) test manual. In R. P. Rohner & A. Khaleque (Eds.), Handbook for the study of parental acceptance and rejection (4th ed.,pp.251-317). Storrs, CT: Rohner Research.
33.
Schaefer, E. S. (1965). Children’s reports of parents’ behavior: An inventory.Child Development, 36, 413-424.
34.
Sears, R. R. (1961). Relation of early socialization experiences to aggression in middle childhood.Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 466-492.
35.
Sears, R. R. (1970). Relation of early socialization experiences to self-concepts and gender role in middle childhood.Child Development, 41, 267-289.
36.
Siegelman, M. (1965). Evaluation of Bronfenbrenner’s questionnaire for children concerning parental behavior.Child Development, 36, 163-174.
37.
Simons, R. L., Lin, K. H., & Gordon, L. C. (1998). Socialization in the family of origin and male dating violence: A prospective study.Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 467-478.
38.
Simons, R. L., Wu, C. I., Lin, K. H., Gordon, L. C., & Conger, R. D. (2000). A cross-cultural examination of the link between corporal punishment and adolescent antisocial behavior.Criminology, 38, 47-79.
39.
Straus, M. A., & Kantor, G. K. (1994). Corporal punishment of adolescents by parents: A risk factor in the epidemiology of depression, suicide, alcohol abuse, child abuse, and wife beating.Adolescence, 29, 543-561.
40.
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, 55-70.
41.
Straus, M. A., & Yodanis, C. L. (1996). Corporal punishment in adolescence and physical assaults on spouses in later life: What accounts for the link?Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 825-841.
42.
Turner, H. A., & Finkelhor, D. (1996). Corporal punishment as a stressor among youth.Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 155-166.
