Descriptive and Bivariate Statistical Analyses of Maternal Characteristics According to Mother's Use of CP in Month Before Interview When Child Was 3 Years of Age
| Total Sample (N = 2461) | Did Not Spank (n = 1123) | Spanked 1 or 2 Times (n = 686) | Spanked ≥3 Times (n = 652) | P | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maternal parenting risks | |||||
| Psychological maltreatment of child, no. of incidents in previous year, median (range: 0–115 incidents) | 25 | 16 | 25 | 33 | <.001 |
| Physical maltreatment of child (spanking not included), no. of incidents in previous year, median (range: 0–108 incidents) | 12 | 4 | 16 | 26 | <.001 |
| Any neglect of child in previous year, % | 11.3 | 8.5 | 13.3 | 14.3 | <.001 |
| Victim of intimate partner aggression and/or violence since birth of index child, % | 53.2 | 47.4 | 57.9 | 58.4 | <.001 |
| Parenting Stress Index score, median (range: 0–44) | 12 | 11 | 13 | 13 | <.001 |
| Major depression, % | 21.3 | 18.2 | 21.4 | 26.5 | <.001 |
| Use of drugs and/or alcohol, % | 16.1 | 13.0 | 16.6 | 20.9 | <.001 |
| Considered aborting this child, % | 27.7 | 24.8 | 29.3 | 30.8 | <.05 |
| Mother and family demographic features | |||||
| Male child, % | 51.9 | 48.9 | 53.4 | 55.5 | <.05 |
| Mother's age, median, y (range: 16–50 y) | 27 | 28 | 27 | 26 | <.001 |
| Mother's education, % | <.01 | ||||
| Less than high school | 32.7 | 34.9 | 34.1 | 27.5 | <.01 |
| High school | 30.6 | 29.1 | 29.2 | 34.8 | <.05 |
| Some college | 25.6 | 23.9 | 26.2 | 27.8 | |
| College graduate | 11.0 | 12.1 | 10.2 | 9.8 | |
| Mother's race/ethnicity, % | <.001 | ||||
| Black | 50.7 | 45.3 | 53.6 | 56.8 | <.001 |
| Hispanic | 24.2 | 29.2 | 23.3 | 16.4 | <.001 |
| White | 21.9 | 21.9 | 19.7 | 24.1 | |
| Other | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 2.6 | |
| Mother foreign-born, % | 12.6 | 17.5 | 10.5 | 6.1 | <.001 |
| Mother's religion, % | <.001 | ||||
| Catholic | 26.4 | 32.3 | 26.8 | 15.8 | <.001 |
| Protestant | 39.9 | 36.0 | 40.2 | 46.3 | <.001 |
| Other Christian | 12.7 | 11.0 | 12.4 | 16.1 | <.01 |
| No religious preference | 17.0 | 16.6 | 16.8 | 17.9 | |
| Other | 3.1 | 3.5 | 2.9 | 2.8 | |
| Mother-father relationship status, % | NS | ||||
| Married | 32.1 | 33.6 | 31.5 | 30.4 | |
| Cohabiting | 27.7 | 28.0 | 26.7 | 28.2 | |
| Visiting | 29.6 | 27.8 | 30.9 | 31.3 | |
| No relationship | 10.6 | 10.6 | 10.9 | 10.1 | |
| Mother's annual household income, median, ln $ (range: 0–13.8; actual median: $23 721) | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | NS |
NS indicates not statistically significant. Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for continuous variables, because equal-variance assumptions generally were not met; χ2 tests were used for binary and categorical variables. Missing data for each variable equaled <1%.