Patterns of caregiver aggressive and nonaggressive discipline toward young children in low- and middle-income countries: A latent class approach.

Background: Caregivers use a variety of disciplinary methods to respond to undesired child behavior. Many caregivers use nonaggressive forms of discipline, such as verbal reasoning and redirection. Some caregivers use aggressive forms of discipline, such as spanking and yelling. However, most caregivers use a combination of aggressive and nonaggressive discipline. To date, a disproportionately small number of caregiver discipline studies are conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and few studies in low-resource contexts examine aggressive and nonaggressive behaviors simultaneously.

Objective: This study aims to elucidate caregiver patterns of 11 disciplinary behaviors used in LMICs, and examine how these patterns relate to child outcomes and household characteristics.

Participants And Setting: Data came from the fourth and fifth rounds of UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) distributed between 2009 and 2017 (N = 218,824 respondents across 63 countries). Focal children were 3-4 years old.

Methods: Patterns of disciplinary behaviors were estimated using a multilevel latent class analysis (LCA). Multinomial regression analyses examined associations of disciplinary patterns with caregiver-reported child outcomes and household characteristics.

Results: The LCA suggested caregiver discipline fell into three overall patterns: high behavioral control, moderate behavior control, and lower behavioral control. The lower behavioral control class was associated with the most advantageous child outcomes and household socio-demographic characteristics, whereas the high behavioral control class was associated with the most disadvantageous child outcomes and household characteristics.

Conclusions: Efforts should be employed to reduce aggressive behaviors and promote positive parenting among caregivers in LMICs.