Children and youth services review
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Child Youth Serv Rev · Aug 2011
Who Spanks Infants and Toddlers? Evidence from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study.
We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (FFCW), a birth cohort study of children in 18 medium to large U. S. cities, to examine the prevalence and determinants of spanking among infants and toddlers (at mean age 14 months). Taking advantage of the large and diverse sample in FFCW, we conduct separate analyses for children of African American (N=1,710), Hispanic (N=853), and white non-Hispanic (N=812) mothers. ⋯ In addition, maternal employment is associated with a greater likelihood of spanking in Hispanic families. Although spanking at these young ages is not necessarily indicative of maltreatment, it may be a marker for families who are at elevated risk of maltreatment. As such, our findings, by highlighting some risk factors that are common across groups as well as some that are more important for particular groups, may have implications for child abuse prevention.