Classification of disciplinary practices for controlling children's behavior using cluster analysis

Abstract

      The statistical method known as cluster analysis was used to classify a group of observations according to the types of disciplinary behaviors provided by parents and educational caregivers practiced on children according to the economic, social and demographic characteristics of the family. Data were collected for more than 100 questionnaires for different segments of society. The results of the analysis revealed that violent practices were the most prevalent, accounting for 51% of the observations. The analysis reduced 5 types of disciplinary practices to two types of violent and non-violent disciplinary practices. The economic determinants were the most important determinants according to the F value calculated using the K-means method, followed by social determinants in importance, while demographic determinants were the least important.