Cultural, Human, and Social Capital as Determinants of Corporal Punishment

Abstract

Using the first wave of the National Survey of Families and Households, the authors construct and test an integrated theoretical model to predict the likelihood of parental use of corporal punishment on children in two-parent families. They show that the use of corporal punishment is primarily determined by cultural, human, and social capital that are available to, or have already been acquired by, parents. Moreover, ordered probit regression analyses indicate that the likelihood of corporal punishment can be predicted by additional exogenous factors such as parents' demographic characteristics and the extent of spousal violence. Based on these results, an integrated, resource-based theory is suggested.