Effects of physical punishment on young adults' psychological adjustment

Abstract

Physical punishment brings palpable negative impacts on one’s psychological development over the life span. A wide pool of research has been conducted in the western cultures and not in the local contexts, thus this study is conducted to investigate whether or not the physical punishment causes the same pattern of negative impacts on young adults’ psychological adjustment. This study illustrates the residue effects of physical punishment on psychological adjustment among young adults. The current study involved 467 young adults in a public higher learning institution in Malaysia. Data were collected by the mean of questionnaires. This study elucidates that the prevalence of physical punishment is at a high level among the young adults of the target area. The findings show that both the paternal and maternal physical punishment have consistent effects upon young adults’ psychological adjustment. Hence, it provides evidence that parental rejection behaviours have profound effects on children’s psychological development. Besides, the perceived paternal and maternal harshness were found to be the strongest predictor in predicating young adults’ psychological adjustment. The study suggests that parents should practise positive reinforcements as behaviour management methods instead of relying on such violent behaviour.