Children must learn to act appropriately, in ways that differ from society to society and from context to context. The question of how best to socialize children so that they can function successfully has fascinated educators and psychologists for centuries. In a world in which children exhibit levels of violence that are strikingly un-childlike, the question of how to bring children up takes on an immediacy for parents and psychologists. Does physical punishment prevent further outbreaks of violent behaviour? Are there ways of influencing children so that punishment will not be necessary? Drawing upon rich, longitudinal data, the contributors to this volume examine the benefits and costs of coercion and punishment, considering such issues as mental health, antisocial and criminal behaviour, substance abuse, and issues related to measurement and prediction. They look at coercion among peers, aggressive behavior in boys and girls, different parenting styles and effects of home context. The volume draws together evidence about coercion and punishment that have appeared in disparate literatures, and it raises questions about easy assumptions regarding them. It will be a useful tool for psychologists, criminologists, social workers, child-care workers, and educators.

Table of Contents:
List of contributors; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction: coercion and punishment in the fabric of social relations Joan McCord; Part I. Mental Health, Coercion and Punishment: 2. Relationships as context: supportive and coercive interactions in competent, aggressive and anxious mother-child dyads Jean E. Dumas and Peter J. LaFreniere; 3. Parental hostility, childhood behaviour and adult social functioning Barbara Maughan, Andrew Pickles and David Quinton; 4. Corporal punishment of children and adult depression and suicidal ideation Murray A. Straus; Part II. Family Socialization Practices and Antisocial Behaviour: 5. Coercion as a basis for early age of onset for arrest Gerald R. Patterson; 6. Disentangling mother-child effects in the development of antisocial behaviour Denise B. Kandel and Ping Wu; 7. Family and child factors in stability and change in children's aggressiveness in elementary school John E. Bates, Gregory S. Pettit and Kenneth A. Dodge; 8. Kindergarten behavioural patterns, parental practices and early adolescent antisocial behaviour Richard E. Tremblay; 9. The reciprocal influence of punishment and child behaviour disorder Patricia Cohen and Judith S. Brook; 10. The development of coercive family processes: the interaction between aversive toddler behaviour and parenting factors Kate Keenan and Daniel S. Shaw; Part III. Aggression and Coercion in the Schools: 11. The impact of peer relationships on aggression in childhood: inhibition through coercion or promotion through peer support Michel Boivin and Frank Vitaro; 12. Classroom seating and juvenile delinquency Pierre Charlebois, Frankie Bernèche, Marc Le Blanc, Claude Gagnon and Serge Larivée; 13. Social skills training and aggression in the peer group Debra J. Pepler, Wendy Craig and William L. Roberts; 14. Early adolescent social influences on delinquent behavior John D. Coie, Robert Terry, Audrey Zakriski and John Lochman; Part IV. Deviance, Crime and Discipline: 15. The long-term effect of punitive discipline John H. Laub and Robert J. Sampson; 16. Parental monitoring and peer influences on adolescent substance use Anne C. Fletcher, Nancy Darling and Laurence Steinberg; 17. The relative importance of internal and external direct constraints in the explanation of late adolescent delinquency and adult criminality Marc Le Blanc; 18. Negative social sanctions and deviant behaviour: a conditional relationship Howard B. Kaplan and Kelly R. Damphousse; Part V. Measuring and Predicting in Studies of Coercion and Punishment: 19. Corporal punishment in everyday life: an intergenerational perspective Hakan Stattin, Harald Janson, Ingrid Klackenberg-Larsson and David Magnusson; 20. Coercive family process and delinquency: some methodological considerations Jacqueline Barnes-McGuire and Felton Earls; 21. Sex roles as coercion Alex E. Schwartzman, Pierrette Verlaan, Patricia Peters, and Lisa A. Serbin; Name index; Subject index.