不再打孩子的父母
How to get your kids to listen to (and to actually do) what you say is one of the most frustrating and difficult parts of being a parent. A new study, published this month in the journal Pediatrics, has shed some light on trends in how parents are choosing to discipline their children these days. The researchers found that nonviolent forms of punishment are on the rise, and that the use of spanking and hitting as discipline has decreased.
爲人父母，如何讓孩子們聽自己的話，並按照自己的意思辦事是最讓人沮喪、最困難的地方。本月在《兒科》雜誌上刊出的一項新研究揭示了一些趨勢，即如今的父母是如何選擇管教自己孩子的趨勢。研究人員們發現非暴力的懲罰形式越來越多，而通過打罵進行管教孩子的行爲越來越少。For the study, researchers looked at four national surveys, spanning 23 years of data, and found that, in 1988, 46% of mothers in middle-class families (which the researchers defined as those living in the 50th income percentile) said they used spanking as discipline. By 2011, that number had dropped to 21%.
爲了這項研究，研究人員們對涵蓋了23年數據的4項國家研究進行了調查，並且發現在1988年中產階級家庭（研究員們指的是那些收入百分數排在第50位的家庭）中，46%的母親說她們會打孩子以讓他們聽話。到2011年，這一數字降低到了21%。When looking at all socioeconomic groups of mothers, the researchers found that spanking was found to be on the decline in general. However, among mothers in the lowest income percentile, one third said they spank their kids.
當觀察處於各類社會經濟羣體的母親時，研究人員們發現：整體來說，打孩子的趨勢有所下降。然而，在最低收入家庭中，三分之一的母親們說自己還是會打小孩。
The researchers called this finding "alarming" for several reasons. Besides the risk of serious injury, corporal punishment has been found to have negative emotional effects on children, and it can lead to physical abuse in some cases. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises against using spanking or hitting as a form of discipline.
研究人員們認爲此次研究結果“令人震驚”，這是由好幾個原因造成的。除了嚴重受傷的風險外，人們已發現體罰會對孩子產生消極的情感影響，在一些情況下，會造成肉體虐待。美國兒科學會不建議使用體罰作爲管教孩子的方式。
The fact that lower-income women often reported resorting to spanking reflects a lack of resources more than anything else, the researchers say. Not all parents have access to or are aware of the AAP's approved guidelines for effective discipline. A 1996 study found that the majority of parents who spank their children do so when they're stressed or angry — and they feel remorse afterward. In other words, spanking is rarely a thoughtful, pre-planned form of discipline — more often than not, parents resort to it when they're out of options.
研究人員們說到，總是會有報道爆出低收入家庭體罰孩子的事實，這反映了資源最爲緊缺的情況。並非所有的父母都能獲得或瞭解美國兒科學會贊成的有效管教指導原則。1996年的一項研究發現大多數父母會在自己受到壓力或感到憤怒時體罰孩子——事後會感到後悔。換句話說，打孩子並非是一種深思熟慮的、預先計劃好的管教方式——父母們選擇這種方式往往是因爲別無他選。The researchers acknowledged that the stigma around spanking could be what's really driving the results. Fearing judgment, some parents may have simply reported they don't resort to spanking their children when, in reality, they still do. "What people say they do and what they actually do are two different things," psychology professor Christopher Ferguson.
研究員們承認關於體罰的恥辱感可能是真正推動研究結果的因素。有些父母可能害怕別人對其指指點點，所以會聲稱自己不打孩子，而實際生活中他們仍會打孩子。“人們說自己在做的事與他們實際做的事是完全不一樣的，”心理學家克里斯托弗•弗格森說道。
