Research Publication: Cognitive and psychophysiological predictors of inductive and physical discipline among parents of preschool-aged children

This article in the American Psychological Association's Journal of Family Psychology shows that parents with lower levels of impulse control and nonverbal intelligence are more likely to endorse the use of physical discipline, such as spanking, in response to their preschool-aged child's misbehavior. Parents low in physiological arousal when at rest report fewer child behavior problems the more they endorse the use of physical discipline. These findings show interactions between cognitive, biological, and contextual predictors of parents' discipline practices and can inform parenting interventions.