"The Pain is on All of Us": A Qualitative Study of Parents' Experiences Using Physical Punishment on Children

Physical punishment is associated with numerous negative child outcomes, including poor adjustment, antisocial behavior and poor parent-child relationships. Despite the extensively documented negative consequences, many parents continue to use it. This qualitative study examines parents' motivations for using physical punishment, which provides crucial insights to facilitate interventions that reduce its use. The study addresses a knowledge gap by exploring the contextual nuances of parents' use of physical punishment. Twenty parents (six fathers) with children aged 2 to 12 who were residing in Singapore participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand parents' attitudes toward physical punishment, the reasons and contexts of its use, and parents' inner experiences when using physical punishment. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was conducted. The results show that despite parents' self-professed use of physical punishment, they expressed discomfort toward it and readily acknowledged its drawbacks. Meting out physical punishment was an intensely negative experience for parents and children, often resulting in parents experiencing guilt and pain. While physical punishment was often used as a last resort, or when parents wished to emphasize the severity of the child's transgression, parents' mood and stress also factored heavily into its use. There is a need for efforts to move beyond education and advocacy on the negative impact of physical punishment, which parents are aware of. Interventions should focus on helping parents regulate their emotions effectively in discipline situations, and to provide behavioral support for parents who may struggle to change existing discipline patterns.