SELF-REPORTED EXPERIENCES WITH DISCIPLINE STRATEGIES: ETHNICITY AND AGE DIFFERENCES

Abstract

This study examined retrospective self-reports of the discipline strategies college students experienced while growing up. Specifically, this study assessed whether or not the participant's ethnicity and the participant's age (childhood vs. adolescence) had an effect on the discipline technique experienced. The discipline strategies were divided into three different scales: (a) positive punishment; (b) negative punishment and (c) verbal redirection/explaining. Caucasian participants reported higher rates of experiencing negative punishment strategies than African American participants as hypothesized, but only during childhood and not during adolescence. There were no other significant differences found. This may primarily have been due to the limited sample size in the current study.