Author Description

Child Discipline in African American Families provides and in depth, contextual understanding of African American disciplinary practices. The author argues that contextual perspective of African American child discipline is needed to fully comprehend how and why African American mothers and fathers use discipline to achieve their parenting goals. This book debunks the theory that spanking is the preferred method of child discipline for African American parents. The author provides numerous sources, cases, narratives and data that African Americans use physical discipline as a last resort option on a child discipline continuum. Adding the perspectives of seasoned trial lawyer demonstrates how research and arguments in this book are played out in a real-world context. A key feature of this book is highlighting the voices of African American parents in conceptualizing child discipline in African American homes. This data will provide new insights into how African American parents grapple with establishing parenting goals and child behavior expectations in a society that is often hostile toward African American children. The information can provide a framework for clinicians, child welfare and legal professionals to better define what is reasonable and functional when addressing child rearing concerns with African American parents.