Corporal Punishment and the Mediating Effects of Parental Acceptance-Rejection and Gender On Empathy in a Southern Rural Population

A total of 138 college students were administered the Parental Ac-ceptance Rejection/Control Questionnaire, the Physical Punish-ment Questionnaire, and the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale to determine if harsh and unjust corporal punishment predicted empathy. The study also investigated whether parental acceptance-rejection and gender mediated the effect of corporal punishment on empathy. Findings showed gender differences: Women reported significantly greater empathy than did men, and justness of corpo-ral punishment related significantly and positively to empathy for men but not for women. Harshness of corporal punishment and pa-rental acceptance-rejection did not relate to empathy regardless of gender. However, both harsh and unjust punishment related significantly to feelings of rejection for both men and women