Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Cross-Cultural Research
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mathurin, M. N.
Right arrow Articles by Lancaster, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Corporal Punishment and Personality Traits in the Children of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Melba N. Mathurin

St. Francis College

Uwe P. Gielen

St. Francis College

Jennifer Lancaster

St. Francis College

This research examined different forms of corporal punishment as experienced by 155 11- to 17-year-old youths in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The study explored the frequency, severity, fairness, deservedness, and total number of different forms of punishment experienced in relation to six negative personality dispositions: aggression, negative self-esteem, negative self-adequacy, emotional instability, emotional unresponsiveness, and negative worldview. A very high proportion of the youths reported being physically punished. The greater the variety of forms of punishment that males experienced, the more emotionally unstable, hostile/aggressive, and overall psychologically maladjusted they were. But no significant relation emerged between corporal punishment and personality variables for females. A small subgroup of highly punished females as well as males, however, reported more feelings of emotional instability, hostility, and overall psychological maladjustment than did less severely punished youths. Results are discussed within a cultural framework emphasizing the widespread acceptance of corporal punishment in Caribbean cultures.

Key Words: corporal punishment • children • personality dispositions • Personality Assessment Questionnaire • Caribbean • Virgin Islands

Cross-Cultural Research, Vol. 40, No. 3, 306-324 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1069397105284678
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?