Infant care and punishment: a pilot study.

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Abstract
Maternal practices, with special emphasis on methods of punishment and attitudes toward child care, were surveyed by means of a short interview schedule administered to 100 mothers from 3 children''s clinics. There several unexpected findings related to methods of punishment: A large proportion of mothers preceived their infants as showing "temper" at a surprisingly young age, often at birth or a few weeks thereafter. A large proportion of mothers used some form of physical punishment on very young infants. Most mothers initiated "spanking" or other physical punishment at a younger age than they stated to be desirable in response to direct questioning. Many mothers spanked their infants despite stating that they did not prefer spanking as a method of punishment. A subsidiary survey concerning maternal practices and attitudes invovling doctors and nurses revelaed that the actual child-rearing practices among the mothers of their patients were frequently unknown to medical personnel.