Civil conflict, domestic violence, and poverty as predictors of corporal punishment in Colombia

Abstract

Background: With lingering effects from more than 50 years of war, young children in Colombia are exposed to multiple risk factors such as poverty, civil conflict, and domestic violence. In addition to these environmental stressors, public and legal support for corporal punishment remains high, which is shown by the high prevalence of young children exposed to corporal punishment in Colombia.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to identify individual, family, and municipality-level predictors of corporal punishment (i.e., hitting with objects and spanking) in Colombia in order to inform prevention and intervention strategies.

Participants and setting: We use information gathered in 2015 from a representative sample of 11,759 mothers of children younger than five in Colombia.

Methods: We employed multi-level models to account for the clustering of families in 217 municipalities.

Results: Results show that mothers' prior exposure to corporal punishment by their own parents (β=0.229;p<0.01), attitudes towards domestic violence β=0.013;p<0.05, municipality homicide rates β=0.028;p<0.05 and presence of armed groups β=0.031;p<0.05, household poverty β=0.030;p<0.01 and poverty of the municipality β=0.022;p<0.05 predicted mothers' hitting their young children with an object. However, family β=-0.028;p<0.05 and municipality poverty β=-0.016;p<0.05 had a negative association with mothers' use of spanking.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that both family and neighborhood level factors have simultaneous associations with parents' use of corporal punishment. Given the accumulating evidence concerning the adverse effects of corporal punishment on child well-being and development, legislative efforts aimed at reducing and ultimately banning corporal punishment are warranted.

Keywords: Child discipline; Civil conflict; Colombia; Corporal punishment; Domestic violence; Poverty.