Associations Between 11 Parental Discipline Behaviors and Child Outcomes Across 60 Countries

Objective: To test associations between 11 parental discipline behaviors and child aggression, distraction, and prosocial peer relations across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Study Design: Data came from the fourth (2009-2013) and fifth (2012-2017) rounds of the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). Survey responses publicly available as of July 2020 were included. Data were restricted to household respondents with focal children under 5 years. The final analytic sample included 163,345 respondents across 60 LMICs. Data were analyzed using Bayesian multilevel logistic regression. Results: Verbal reasoning (80%) and shouting (66%) were the most common parental discipline behaviors toward young children. Psychological and physical aggression were associated with higher child aggression and distraction. Verbal reasoning was associated with lower aggression (OR = 0.92, 95% CI [0.86, 0.99]) and higher prosocial peer relations (OR = 1.30, 95% CI [1.20, 1.42]). Taking away privileges was associated with higher distraction (OR = 1.09, 95% CI [1.03, 1.15] and lower prosocial peer relations (OR = 0.92, 95% CI [0.87, 0.98]). Giving the child something else to do was associated with higher distraction (OR = 1.06, 95% CI [1.01, 1.12]. Random slopes suggested statistically credible cultural variation in the associations between parenting behaviors and child socio-emotional outcomes. Conclusions: Psychological and physical aggression were disadvantageous for children’s socio-emotional development across countries. Only verbal reasoning was associated with positive child socio-emotional development. Greater emphasis should be dedicated to reducing parental use of psychological and physical aggression across cultural contexts.