Peer-reviewed article
Addressing punitive violence against children in Australia, Japan and the Philippines
Joan E. Durrant, Ashley Stewart-Tufescu, Christine A. Ateah, George W. Holden, Rashid Ahmed et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001Physical and emotional punishment of children is common in the Asia-Pacific region and causes harm. The Positive Discipline in Everyday Parenting (PDEP) program teaches parents about child development and problem-solving to change their attitudes toward punishment. Parents from Australia, Japan, and the Philippines who completed the program showed reduced approval of physical punishment and better skills to handle conflict without violence.
Key points
- 377 parents across three countries (135 from Australia, 172 from Japan, 70 from the Philippines) participated in the PDEP program
- In all three countries, parents' approval of punishment in general and physical punishment specifically declined after the program
- Parents became less likely to attribute typical child behavior to intentional misbehavior
- At least 75% of parents in each country felt better prepared to respond nonviolently to conflict with their children by program end
Limitations
The document does not report whether changes in parental attitudes led to actual changes in child punishment practices or child outcomes. There is no information about follow-up or whether attitude changes were sustained after the program ended.
Abstract
Physical and emotional punishment of children is highly prevalent in the Asia-Pacific region. These actions predict a range of physical and emotional harms, prompting a worldwide effort to eliminate them. A key strategy in this effort is to change parental beliefs regarding the acceptability of physical and emotional punishment. The Positive Discipline in Everyday Parenting (PDEP) program was designed to change those beliefs by teaching parents about child development and strengthening their problem-solving skills. A sample of 377 parents in the Asia-Pacific region completed the program: 329 mothers and 47 fathers of children ranging in age from infancy to adolescence. The parents lived in Australia ( n = 135), Japan ( n = 172) or the Philippines ( n = 70). In all three countries, parents’ approval of punishment in general, and physical punishment specifically, declined and they became less likely to attribute typical child behavior to intentional misbehavior. By the end of the program, at least 75% of parents in each country felt better prepared to respond nonviolently to conflict with their children.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Positive Discipline in Everyday Parenting (PDEP) program that teaches parents about child development and strengthens their problem-solving skills
- Population
- 377 parents (329 mothers, 47 fathers) of children from infancy to adolescence in Australia, Japan, and the Philippines
Key finding
Parents' approval of punishment in general declined in all three countries