Citation

Wiehe VR. J. Fam. Violence 1990; 5(2): 173-186.

Affiliation

College of Social Work, University of Kentucky, 40506-0027 Lexington, Kentucky

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF00978518

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Certain Biblical passages if interpreted literally can be understood as advocating the use of corporal punishment in disciplining children. The purpose of this research was to determine if persons affiliated with religious denominations which emphasized a literal belief in the Bible would demonstrate less appropriate attitudes with regard to discipline than their counterparts who were affiliated with religious denominations which do not subscribe to a literal interpretation of the Bible. The sample consisted of 881 persons who were members of denominations classified as literal or nonliteral believers. Statistically significant differences were noted on the Physical Punishment Scale of the Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory with persons, regardless of gender or their level of education, who were members of churches subscribing to a literal belief in the Bible preferring the use of corporal punishment over alternate methods of discipline as compared to their nonliteral counterparts.