NCJ Number
158375
Editor(s)
J McCord
Date Published
1995
Length
405 pages
Annotation
Drawing upon longitudinal data, the contributors to this volume examine the benefits and costs of coercion and punishment, considering such topics as mental health, antisocial and criminal behavior, substance abuse, and issues related to measurement and prediction.
Abstract
The chapters include evidence obtained in families, schools, and penal institutions. The authors scrutinize methods for obtaining data as well as substantive issues. Some chapters suggest that subtle coercion can be powerful in shaping behavior. One chapter, for example, shows how anxious and aggressive children tend to coerce their parents into behaving aversively. By examining children in laboratory situations, it also shows that mothers of the aggressive and the anxious children were capable of behaving with positive effect. Other chapters show that coercion by peers can be subtle. Evidence from several chapters suggests that punishment typically operates to increase aversive behaviors of children and to aggravate other forms of social problems. One chapter, for example, presents evidence that punishment in childhood increases the probability of subsequent depression. A number of chapters address methodological problems by using common measures of interactive processes. Evidence from several studies suggests that fear, at least as related to punishments, fails to lead to successful socialization. In addition, evidence from these studies provides grounds for questioning the assumptions that justify teaching parents of aggressive children how to use more positive discipline and teaching aggressive children how to be more socially skillful. Chapter tables and references