Immediate and Long-Term Effectiveness of Disciplinary Tactics by Type of Toddler Noncompliance

Abstract

SYNOPSIS Objective. To clarify when the disciplinary recommendations of positive parenting and behavioral parent training apply, this study investigated how the effectiveness of seven disciplinary tactics varies by type of toddler noncompliance, using methods to improve the validity of causal inferences. Design. Multilevel modeling and hierarchical longitudinal regression are used to test immediate and long-term effectiveness of disciplinary tactics in a convenience sample of 102 mother–toddler pairs, using coded information from detailed descriptions of a sample of five discipline episodes along with survey measures. Results. Offering alternatives is the most effective disciplinary tactic for reducing noncompliance severity immediately regardless of the type of noncompliance. Reasoning is the second best tactic for immediately reducing noncompliance severity when responding to parent-oriented noncompliance (negotiating and whining), whereas power assertive and punishment tactics are least effective, but the immediate effectiveness of those tactics reverses when responding to parent-opposing noncompliance (defiance and hitting). Long-term outcomes also differ for toddlers whose predominant noncompliance is parent-oriented or parent-opposing. For parent-oriented toddlers, frequently offering alternatives leads to reduced externalizing problems, whereas punishments increase their behavior problems. For oppositional toddlers, offering alternatives too frequently increases externalizing problems, whereas moderate use of punishments (<16% of the time) decreases total behavior problems. Frequent reasoning also reduces subsequent externalizing problems for oppositional toddlers, despite being the least effective disciplinary response for de-escalating parent-opposing noncompliance immediately. Conclusions. Parenting advice should move beyond universal disciplinary recommendations to help parents match their disciplinary tactics to their child’s type of noncompliance.