Index Statement of the problem Literature review and development of hypotheses Methods Results Discussion Conclusion References Statement of the problem Do mothers prefer spanking as a form of discipline compared to fathers? Many children have been disciplined by their parents using corporal punishment for misbehavior. There are benefits to spanking your children; many believe it teaches children appropriate behavior. The stereotypical thought is that mothers educate and fathers discipline. But how precise is this perception? Mothers are typically the primary caretakers of the child, and they also balance household duties. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The father typically works outside the home and spends the least amount of time with his children; leaving most of the discipline to the mother. This raises the question: why do parents choose to discipline their children by spanking? Parents may feel that it is their responsibility to discipline their children, but are unable to find the best method to discipline them. Additionally, parents can choose to discipline their children in the same way they did before. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development An individual's upbringing can have an incredible influence on their parenting style (disciplinary actions) when they become a parent. According to the article “To Spank or Not To Spank:” The Effect of Situation and Age of Child on Support for Corporal Punishment by CP FLYNN mentions that males and African Americans are more supportive of corporal punishment than females and whites. The author suggests that this may be because males and African Americans are subject to more incidents of corporal punishment during their upbringing than females and whites. These findings add another layer of complexity to this issue, which is ethnicity. It not only helps shape their own parenting style, but also the advice they seek from friends and family, as well as religious leaders and healthcare professionals. Overall, there are various factors that can determine the method of discipline used during parenting. I predict that mothers, compared to fathers, prefer spanking as a form of disciplining a child. My null hypothesis is that there is no difference between mothers and fathers who favor spanking to discipline a child. Methods I analyzed results from the 2010 General Social Survey (GSS) conducted by the National Opinion Research Center, composed of random samples of institutionalized English-speaking non-Americans aged 18 and older. My first GSS variable is Gender (Sex) as the independent variable and the respondents had two choices: male and female (GSS, 2010). My second GSS variable is Favor Spanking over Child Discipline (Spanking) as the dependent variable and respondents had four choices: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree (GSS, 2010). Results The first GSS variable is Favor of Spanking over Child Discipline (Spanking) which is also our dependent variable. There were 1417 out of 2044 respondents who answered this question. 16.4% of respondents said they completely agreed with spanking, 31.7% said they agreed with spanking, 15.9 disagreed with spanking, and 5.4 completely disagreed with spanking. The mode is Accept, which is the most frequent response. The range is from Strongly agree to Strongly disagree. The second GSS variable is Gender (Sex), which is the dependent variable.10826-016-0586-3