Child Abuse & Neglect 37 (2013) 1152–1162 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Child Abuse & Neglect Severe punishment of children by staff in Romanian placement centers for school-aged children: Effects of child and institutional characteristics Adrian V. Rus a,∗ , Ecaterina Stativa b , Jacquelyn S. Pennings c , David R. Cross d , Naomi Ekas d , Karyn B. Purvis d , Sheri R. Parris d a Southwestern Christian University, OK, USA b The Institute for Mother and Child Care “Alfred Rusescu”, Bucharest, Romania c Elite Research, LLC, Carrollton, TX, USA d Texas Christian University, TX, USA article info Article history: Received 22 April 2013 Received in revised form 26 June 2013 Accepted 9 July 2013 Available online 7 August 2013 Keywords: Romania Orphanage Placement center Institutional care Institutionalization Punishment Child abuse abstract The objective of this study was to determine whether children’s characteristics and/or insti- tutional characteristics were predictors of severe punishments (including beatings) and/or frequency of punishments that children received from staff in Romanian institutions. The data was hierarchical with institutionalized children (N = 1391) nested within 44 institu- tions, and the measurement of punishments by the staff and frequency of punishments had a binary distribution. Thus, multilevel logistic regression models were used to examine the effects of individual and institutional level variables on reported punishments and to account for the clustering of the children within institutions. Two general patterns of results emerged. First, regarding individual level variables, it was found that: (1) amount of time spent by children in their current institutions had a significant effect on the probability of being punished by staff and the frequency of this punishment; (2) the probability of being punished was higher for boys than for girls; and (3) having no siblings in the institution increased the odds of being punished several times. Second, regarding institutional level variables: (4) being in placement centers for school-aged children with a traditional type of institutional organization increased the odds of severe punishment compared to a famil- ial/mixed type. The results of the present study highlight the importance of understanding the consequences of institutionalization in a broader way, where children not only experi- enced early severe psychosocial deprivation as documented in other studies, but also high levels of severe punishments administered by institutional staff. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Child abuse has been recognized as a widespread problem in residential care institutions in the West (Ellonen & Pösö, 2011; Gallagher, 1999; Hobbs, Hobbs, & Wynne, 1999; Rindfeisch & Rabb, 1984; Sen, Kendrick, Milligan, & Hawthorn, 2008). Consequently, abuse has been attributed to a blend of many factors such as substandard education, training, super- vision, and selection of staff; poor management of these institutions and inappropriate organizational cultures; failure to identify staff that abused children; and a lack of responsiveness regarding children who abused other children (Colton, 2002). ∗ Corresponding author address: Southwestern Christian University, Behavioral Sciences Department, 7210 NW 39th Expressway Bethany, OK 73008- 0340, USA. 0145-2134/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.07.003