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    The effects of positive affective priming on Māori mothers' attributions for children's misbehaviours and appropriate methods of discipline : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2009) Amor-Ponter, Vickie Walla
    This study is a test-retest experimental design which sets out to determine if Māori mothers, exposure to emotive (positive) photographs of Māori people (children interacting with adults) would influence their attributions and disciplinary responses for child misbehaviour in a positive direction. I also hypothesised that the exposure to Māori visual icons or objects might have a similar but lesser affect. The participants were a group of 48 mothers of Māori descent living in the Porirua and Wellington areas. I recruited by approaching the principal from a local primary school and my previous employer, by attending a parent group, and by using a snowballing strategy. Cultural identity was assessed using a "Lifestyle Questionnaire" and results showed that the majority of participants were well integrated into both Māori and mainstream New Zealand culture. Participants were randomly divided into four equal groups of 12 participants. Each group was shown different sets of photographs that served as the emotional primes (i.e., Māori people. non-Māori people, Māori objects and non-Māori objects). The two experiment groups viewed the Māori people or Māori objects photographs. Conversely, the two control groups viewed the non-Māori people or non-Māori objects photographs. The participants undertook a pre-testing exercise prior to viewing the photographs, followed by a post-testing exercise. The pre-testing and post-testing exercises consisted of parent-child scenarios based on child misbehaviours where the child could be blamed for the misbehaviour, and ambiguous behaviours where the child could not be clearly blamed for the misbehaviour. Participants used 4-point Likert scales to rate their causal attributions for the parent-child scenarios and their likely disciplinary responses. The data were statistically analysed using a mixed between-within subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA). Most of the results were not statistically significant, apart from two of the positive causal attributions. Child misbehaviour scenarios showed a significant main effect for pre-test and post-test scores, with all groups being more forgiving or excusing the child when clearly the child was to blame. Ambiguous behaviour scenarios showed a significant interaction between Māori and non-Māori groups' pre-test and post-test scores (i.e., Māori groups were more forgiving or excusing the child and non-Māori groups were less forgiving or excusing the child). The majority of participants' scores showed their disciplinary responses were less harsh at pre-test and post-test. The most likely responses were talking to their child, followed by child apologises and then telling off. The least likely responses were smacking; next in order were doing nothing and ignoring. This study provided some insight into Māori mothers' causal attributions and disciplinary responses. Recommendations for future research, limitations and positive features are presented.
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    Priming good parenting : can positive affective priming influence fathers' causal attributions and consequent disciplinary responses for child misbehaviour? : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Mackie, Kayla Louise
    This thesis combines affective priming with the cognitive processes and behavioural sequences found in parenting decisions, to explore whether a father’s attributions for child misbehaviour and consequent disciplinary responses can be influenced by a priming intervention. Forty eight fathers of children aged between 5 and 12 years were questioned on their opinions regarding the causes of child behaviour, and how they would choose to respond to or discipline such behaviour, before and following a priming intervention consisting of full-colour images of fathers interacting with their children. These primes differed in content in both emotional valence and the fathering roles depicted dependent upon the group to which participants were randomly assigned. These groups were General Positive, General Negative, Evolutionary Positive, and Evolutionary Negative priming images. Results showed that all research groups were successfully primed, as measured by a word completion task, however consistent and expected changes in attributions for child behaviour and disciplinary choices did not occur due to the priming intervention. Proposed reasons for this include unforeseen priming effects obscuring the main effect, additional corrective cognitive factors altering or obscuring the priming effect, or difficulties with the way the cognitive and behavioural changes were measured. Proposed methods for further exploration in future research regarding how to translate a priming effect into meaningful and consistent change are discussed. Priming as an adjunctive parenting intervention remains an interesting and worthwhile consideration, and ideas around utilisation of this technique are discussed in light of the results of this research.
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    A darn good hiding or the naughty step? : ideas on child discipline in New Zealand 1890-2008 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2008) Rayner, Helen J
    This thesis examines the history of child discipline in New Zealand since 1890, taking into account both trends in child-rearing advice and the common practices of ordinary parents. It explores the common stereotype that children "these days" are ill-disciplined in comparison with their earlier counterparts, and argues that while physical punishment is used less often than in the past, and usually in a milder form, it is still used more frequently and harshly than would be expected from the results of recent opinion polls. Child discipline has always been about setting a child up to live a happy life. As ideas on how to achieve this goal have changed, so too have the acceptable forms of punishment. During the 1890s-1920s, the difference between good discipline and abuse was simply a matter of frequency, and this idea was shared by both parenting advisors and the general public. Since the 1930s, however, parenting experts were frequently out of step with the parents they were trying to teach, and that their influence on parenting practice was at best delayed, and at worst entirely contradictory to that which they intended. Letters magazine and newspaper articles and contemporary studies on attitudes to discipline are used to show that parenting practice was often very different to that promoted by parenting advisors. Finally, this thesis concludes that a contextualist approach best suits the history of child-rearing advice in New Zealand, while an evolutionist approach is more appropriate in terms of common practice.
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    To smack or not to smack, is that the question? : the social perspectives on the issue of child discipline held by a cohort of mothers in Aotearoa New Zealand and what they indicate : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Thompson, Patricia
    The response to the legislative change in New Zealand that occurred in 2007 on the physical discipline of children precipitated more public submissions to the government than any other piece of legislation in New Zealand history. The debates over the Crimes (Substituted section 59) Amendment Act 2007 (formerly known as section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961) provided a social context for this study of what contributed to the intense national debates within academia, families, and public arenas over such issues as children’s rights, parental rights, the socialisation of children, religion and the role of government. Parenting styles and the effectiveness and outcomes of smacking were a particular focus of much of this debate. This research was undertaken in the context of these debates, and established five research aims for a thesis that set out to explore the connections between mothers’ viewpoints on physical discipline and the wider issues that surround the complex and often contradictory spaces where the physical discipline of children is debated and discussed. The first four aims were addressed through four detailed reviews of literature with the overall purpose of breaking down and laying out the complexity of the debates that underpin any understanding of child discipline. The first review highlighted definitional issues relevant to this thesis, and included statutory definitions where appropriate. The second review explored and outlined evidence from a wide range of literature that contextualised the issue of physical discipline in and through the legislative debates surrounding the Crimes (Substituted section 59) Amendment Act 2007 in New Zealand. The third review outlined conceptual frameworks through which issues of child socialisation and discipline are commonly explained in order to frame the previous legislative discussion from a different perspective. The fourth and final review piece examined the issue of physical discipline and its potential impact on children and their socialisation. The abductive nature of this research meant that there was recursive movement between the empirical research and the bodies of literature that surround the research question. For the purposes of presentation, the literature reviews are introduced at the outset whereas they were undertaken before, after and during the empirical Q work. The summation of insights from the literature reviews, however, set the scene for the final aim, to identify the social perspectives on the issue of child discipline held by a cohort of mothers in New Zealand. They provide context for further understanding the identified social perspectives on the issue of child discipline held by a cohort of mothers in New Zealand through the social perspectives that emerged. The substantive field work undertaken to ground the conceptual material outlined through the reviews explored the attitudes and beliefs of mothers towards physical discipline and sought to identify explanatory inferences that could be drawn from those social perspectives in relation to the sharp divide amongst mothers in New Zealand about the use of physical discipline when raising children. This thesis, both the reviews and the field work components, relied on abductive logic generally and the use of Q-methodology specifically to elicit the social perspectives from the cohort of mothers. These revealed perspectives were then read against a range of social theories including Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological theory and attachment theory, amongst others. Two clear social perspectives were identified through the Q analysis: “a smack is more than a smack” and “a smack is nothing more than a smack”. These viewpoints were explored in relation to the wider literature on physical discipline, which pointed to the grey area between physical discipline and child abuse. Many of the issues dealt with in the literature assume the importance of specific behaviours including such things as whether a child was smacked with the palm of the hand or an implement, either on the buttocks or near the face, the severity of the smack, the age of the child, the anger of the parent, how harsh or how many smacks and, sporadically, the context in which the smack took place. Traditionally, little attention has been given to the wider socialisation processes reflected through the attitudes and beliefs of the mother and her relationship with the child. It is argued in this thesis that: (1) conversations about the physical discipline of children need to shift from assumptions about what constitutes physical discipline to the establishment of a clear definition of physical discipline in order for useful research to be undertaken, and only once this is done, to (2) consider how a light smack may (or may not) impact on relationships with children, what it teaches (both parents and children) through socialisation processes about how to relate, and what such discipline indicates for intrapersonal and interpersonal relationships during times of frustration or conflict that arise when parenting. By providing a more nuanced study of this controversial issue, the findings from this research contribute to a more socially embedded understanding of parent child relationship and the thesis adds a new perspective to the existing literature on the physical discipline of children. Encouraging consideration of socialisation processes rather than the nature of ill-defined disciplinary behaviours have significant implications for social policy and family support development both nationally and internationally.