Mother’s perception about coercive child rearing practices and the transmission of family models

Abstract

The child-rearing practices consist of many possibilities of strategies used by parents to guide their children’s behavior. These practices might be considered a predicting factor of the individual’s behavior, once people tend to repeat the pattern of education learned with their childhood caregiver. Therefore, the research analyzed the mothers’ perception about the coercive child-rearing practices in their children’s education and how their experiences in their original family are expressed in their children’s education. A qualitative investigation was designed, through case study, with three women who live in the south of Brazil. Data analysis was based on the dynamic understanding of the cases, through the synthesis of cross-cases, based on the systemic family theory. The educational practices used by mothers revealed to be marked by the influence of their childhood experiences. The results demonstrated the importance of increasing parental knowledge about educational practices and the negative impact of physical punishment.

Keywords: family, transgenerationality, child rearing practices, coercion.