DETERMINANTS OF HARSH PARENTING IN MEXICO

This paper presents a structural model of the determinants of harsh pa renting among Mexican mothers. One hundred five mothers (46 from the c ommunity; 59 referred to agencies for child maltreatment) were recruit ed from Sonora (Northern) Mexico and interviewed. In this model the us e of physical punishment was explained by (1) authoritarian parenting style (mothers' beliefs concerning the effective use of physical punis hment and mothers' lack of disciplinary skills) and (2) family dysfunc tion (a latent variable constructed from reports of interspousal viole nce and the parents' use of alcohol and drugs). In addition, the indir ect effects of demographic and historical variables on harsh parenting was included. The findings show that the most important factor influe ncing the use of physical punishment in these families was authoritari an parenting style, exerting a significant direct effect on the mother s' reports of their use of harsh punishment. Family dysfunction had an indirect effect through parenting style. Some sociodemographic variab les also indirectly influenced the use of beliefs maternal punishment It is concluded that cultural beliefs play a major role in parenting w ithin the framework of Mexican family relations.