Posttraumatic Stress and Mentalization in Accounting for Veteran Parents' Use of Corporal Punishment: Parental Over‐Certainty Matters for Multiracial Children

ABSTRACT Posttraumatic stress symptoms have been closely linked with the use of harsh parenting practices in veteran families. This study was aimed at assessing the potential added importance of parent mentalization in predicting the use of corporal punishment among US veterans. A hypothesized hierarchical regression model in which parent mentalization dimensions (i.e., prementalizing, over‐certainty, and interest and curiosity) were examined as predictors of corporal punishment was analysed in monoracial ( n = 318) and multiracial ( n = 182) US veteran families. For veteran parents in both monoracial and multiracial families, parent mentalization emerged as a significant predictor of corporal punishment, even after accounting for parent posttraumatic stress. While the prementalizing dimension of mentalization was associated with greater corporal punishment among veteran parents in both monoracial and multiracial families, the over‐certainty dimension was associated with greater corporal punishment exclusively in multiracial families. The present findings clarify dimensions of parent mentalization that confer risk for the use of corporal punishment in US veteran families, above and beyond the predictive role of posttraumatic stress. Implications of the present findings for social workers working with monoracial and multiracial veteran families are discussed.