Qatari mothers’ beliefs in child disciplinary methods and their reported use: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Violent child discipline is a widespread phenomenon that can have devastating short- and long-term consequences for an individual's physical, mental and social wellbeing. Parents' beliefs and expressed ideas about child discipline, both violent and non-violent, can differ from their practice. This study identifies which disciplinary methods Qatari mothers believe to be the most successful in changing their child's behaviour and compares them to the ones they report actually using. Using a cross-sectional design, a representative sample of Qatari mothers completed an anonymous standardised questionnaire, the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Child Abuse Screening Tool for Parents. The majority (96.9 per cent) of Qatari mothers reported believing in non-violent disciplinary methods (NVDMs) in changing their child's behaviour and those believing only in such methods are more likely to use only them compared to those mothers believing in a mixture of methods (30.9 vs. 6.7 per cent, chi-squared value [𝜒²] = 83.5, P value <0.001). Still, 44.9 and 5.2 per cent of Qatari mothers believing in only NVDMs also used at least one moderate and one severe physical method, respectively. Much public education is needed to increase Qatari mothers' awareness in of the benefits of NVDMs, to foster a belief in their efficacy and to support using them.