Perceived neighborhood violence and use of verbal aggression, corporal punishment, and physical abuse by a national sample of parents in Israel

This study, based on an ecological perspective, examined the relation of perceived neighborhood violence, child misbehavior, parental attitudes to aggressive discipline tactics, and the actual use of aggressive discipline tactics. Research questions were: To what extent is perceived neighborhood violence associated with aggressive discipline by parents? What is the mechanism through which perceived neighborhood violence is linked to aggressive discipline? Data were obtained from a stratified probability sample of 1,649 women. Findings indicated that the more the study participants perceived their neighborhood as violent, the more frequent is the parental use of aggressive discipline. It seems that child misbehavior and parental approval of corporal punishment are affected by perceived neighborhood violence and, in turn, affect parental use of aggressive disciplines. Furthermore, the relationships of child misbehavior, parental approval of aggressive discipline, and the use of aggressive discipline are different in low and high levels of perceived neighborhood violence.