In this thesis entitled Parents' Subjective Theories of Physical Punishment of Preschoolers, first I described subjective theories, what influences them and how they change. Then I introduced the concept of authority, the three types of authority and the concept of child in different parenting styles. In the theoretical introduction, I have particularly focused on punishment in upbringing, especially on physical punishment. I explained what physical punishment means, how it is dealt with in the Slovenian law system, what physical punishment meant in the past and how it is presented today’s society. I have stated the consequences of physical punishment. The main purpose of the thesis was to find out what is the parents' attitude towards physical punishment of preschool children and whether they use it in the upbringing of their preschool child.
The results of the survey showed that the most parents follow their own inner feeling when raising their child. The opinion of one third of respondents is against physical punishment and they do not use it. More than a half are not in favour of it, but have used it before, and a few of them think that in some rare situations physical punishment is necessary. A quarter of respondents have never used physical punishment before, while others have used it at least once before. On average, the most frequently used physical punishment is a slap on the bottom, mostly because of the disobedience and inappropriate behaviour of their child. Most parents later regret their actions, but fewer apologise to their child.
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