Magnitude and Effect of Punishment on Psychosocial Development of Urban and Rural School Children in Bangladesh

Childhood punishment is a persistent phenomenon of almost every corner around the globe. Existing socio-cultural context and lack of adequate systematic evidence surrounding punishment in Bangladesh left the issue almost unrevealed. This study addressed this gap by exploring the means, extent, reasons of punishment and its effect on psychosocial development of urban and rural school children. 300 children between 7-14 years of age were conveniently selected from four schools located in urban and rural area. A structured checklist related to experience of punishment and Beck Youth Inventories of Emotional and Social Impairment (BYI) were used. Punishment was found to be a universal experience with physical punishment as most common form of punishment. Significant difference in forms of punishment exists between urban and rural area. Urban parents were significantly more punitive than their rural counterparts. Multiple regression analyses shows that all models were statistically significant with varying effect of different forms of punishment on psychosocial development variables. (156 words)