Physical or corporal punishment by a parent or other legal guardian is any act causing deliberate physical pain or discomfort to a minor child in response to some undesired behavior. It typically takes the form of spanking or slapping the child with an open hand or striking with an implement such as a slipper, wooden spoon, hairbrush, paddle, strap/belt, switch, or cane. On a looser definition, it can also include shaking, pinching, forced ingestion of substances, or forcing children to stay in uncomfortable positions.
Social acceptance of corporal punishment is high in countries where it remains lawful, particularly among more traditional groups. In many cultures, parents have historically been regarded as having the right, if not the duty, to physically punish misbehaving children in order to teach appropriate behavior or to stop inappropriate behavior immediately or in the short run. Many studies, on the other hand, have found that corporal punishment may have the opposite effect in the long run, increasing the chances of more aggressive behavior in children and less long-term obedience. Other adverse effects, such as depression, anxiety, elevated risks of suicide, and increased risks of physical abuse, have also been consistently linked to the use of corporal punishment, including low-frequency corporal punishment and mild forms of corporal punishment such as spanking at buttocks or extremities without an object by parents. Evidence shows that spanking and other physical punishments, while nominally for the purpose of child discipline, are inconsistently applied, often being used when parents are angry (usually because of disappointment/dissatisfaction with one's behavior) or under stress. Severe forms of physical punishment, including kicking, biting, scalding and burning, can also constitute child abuse.
International human-rights and treaty bodies such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Council of Europe, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have advocated an end to all forms of corporal punishment, arguing that it violates children's dignity and right to bodily integrity. Many existing laws against battery, assault, or child abuse make exceptions for "reasonable" physical punishment by parents, a defence rooted in common law and specifically English law. During the late 20th and into the 21st century, some countries began removing legal defences for adult guardians' use of corporal punishment, followed by outright bans on the practice. Most of these bans are part of civil law and therefore do not impose criminal penalties unless a charge of assault and/or battery is justified; however, the local child protective services can and will often intervene.
Ever since Sweden outlawed all corporal punishment of children in 1979, an increasing number of countries have enacted similar bans, particularly following international adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. , this comprises 22 of the 27 member states of the European Union as well as 26 of the 38 countries belonging to the OECD. However, domestic corporal punishment of children remains legal in most of the world.
Forms of punishment
The Committee on the Rights of the Child defines corporal punishment as "any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light". Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, reporting on a worldwide study on violence against children for the Secretary General of the United Nations, writes:
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), "Corporal punishment involves the application of some form of physical pain in response to undesirable behavior", and "ranges from slapping the hand of a child about to touch a hot stove to identifiable child abuse, such as beatings, scaldings, and burnings. Because of this range in the form and severity of punishment, its use as a discipline strategy is controversial."
The term "corporal punishment" is often used interchangeably with "physical punishment" or "physical discipline".
Researcher Elizabeth Gershoff's 2008 Report on Physical Punishment in the United States notes that the infliction pain specifically with the intent to punish is distinct from "protective physical restraint", where physical force is used to protect a child from harming themselves or others.
It has also been shown that the language one uses to describe this form of punishment can alleviate the perceived ight of or feeling of responsibility for the act. Using terms such as "spank" instead of swat, hit, slap, or beat tends to normalize and downplay the violence of corporal punishment.
Contributing factors
Among various pre-existing factors that influence whether parents use physical punishment are: experience with physical punishment as a child, knowledge about child development, socioeconomic status, parental education, and religious ideology. Favorable attitudes toward the use of physical punishment are also a significant predictor of its use. Child-development researcher Elizabeth Gershoff writes that parents are more likely to use physical punishment if:
Parents tend to use corporal punishment on children out of a desire for obedience, both in the short and long term, and especially to reduce children's aggressive behaviors. This is despite a significant body of evidence that physically punishing children tends to have the opposite effect, namely, a decrease in long-term compliance and an increase in aggression. Other reasons for parents' use of physical punishment may be to communicate their displeasure with the child, to assert their authority, or to follow tradition.
Parents also appear to use physical punishment on children as an outlet for anger. The AAP notes that "Parents are more likely to use aversive techniques of discipline when they are angry or irritable, depressed, fatigued, and stressed", and estimates that such release of pent-up anger makes parents more likely to hit or spank their children in the future. Furthermore, the effects of poverty, stress, a lack of understanding of children's development, and the need to control one's child are contributing factors to the approval and use of corporal punishments. Parents commonly resort to spanking after losing their temper, and most parents surveyed expressed significant feelings of anger, remorse, and agitation while physically punishing their children. According to the AAP, "These findings challenge most the notion that parents can spank in a calm, planned manner".
It was also found that a strong contributing factor for parents using corporal punishment is if they believe that it is normative and an expectation of raising a child, or feel it is a necessary part of being a parent. Stress plays a large role in this as well.
Society and culture
The findings of a 2005 study of China, India, Italy, Kenya, the Philippines, and Thailand revealed differences in the reported use of corporal punishment, its acceptance in society, and its relation to children's social adjustment. Where corporal punishment was perceived as being more culturally accepted, it was less strongly associated with aggression and anxiety in children. However, corporal punishment was still positively associated with child aggression and anxiety in all countries studied. Associations between corporal punishment and increased child aggression have been documented in the countries listed above as well as in Jamaica, Jordan, and Singapore, as have links between corporal punishment of children and later antisocial behavior in Brazil, Hong Kong, Jordan, Mongolia, Norway, and the United Kingdom. According to Elizabeth Gershoff, these findings appear to challenge the notion that corporal punishment is "good" for children, even in cultures with histories of violence.
Researchers have found that while the use of corporal punishment predicts variation in children's aggression less strongly in countries where there is more social acceptance of it, cultures in which corporal punishment is more accepted have higher overall levels of societal violence.
A 2013 study by Murray A. Straus at the University of New Hampshire found that children across numerous cultures who were spanked committed more crimes as adults than children who were not spanked, regardless of the quality of their relationship to their parents.
Opinions vary across cultures on whether spanking and other forms of physical punishment are appropriate techniques for child-rearing. For example, in the United States and in England, social acceptance of spanking children maintains a majority position, from approximately 61% to 80%. In 2020, the Welsh Government banned all form of physical punishment in Wales. In Sweden, before the 1979 ban, more than half of the population considered corporal punishment a necessary part of child rearing. By 1996, the rate was 11% and less than 34% considered it acceptable in a national survey.Statistics Sweden. (1996). Spanking and other forms of physical punishment. Stockholm: Statistics Sweden. Elizabeth Gershoff posits that corporal punishment in the United States is largely supported by "a constellation of beliefs about family and child rearing, namely that children are property, that children do not have the right to negotiate their treatment by parents, and that behaviors within families are private".
Social acceptance toward, and prevalence of, corporal punishment by parents in some countries remains high despite a growing scientific consensus that the risks of substantial harm outweigh the potential benefits. Social psychologists posit that this divergence between popular opinion and empirical evidence may be rooted in cognitive dissonance. In countries such as the US and UK (except Scotland and Wales), spanking is legal but overt child abuse is both illegal and highly stigmatized socially. Because of this, any parent who has ever spanked a child would find it extremely difficult to accept the research findings. If they did acknowledge, even in the smallest way, that spanking was harmful, they would likely feel they were admitting they harmed their own child and thus are a child abuser. Similarly, adults who were spanked as children often face similar cognitive dissonance, because admitting it is harmful might be perceived as accusing their parents of abuse and might also be admitting to having been victimized in a situation where they were helpless to stop it. Such feelings would cause intense emotional discomfort, driving them to dismiss the scientific evidence in favor of weak anecdotal evidence and distorted self-reflection. This is commonly expressed as "I spanked my children and they all turned out fine" or "I was spanked and I turned out fine."
It should be noted, however, that many parenting resources do in fact advise against physical punishment. Most are in agreement in concluding that through the use of physical punishment, a child learns that violence is acceptable, and it is often followed by a negative parent-to-child relationship as well.
Legality
Traditionally, corporal punishment of minor children is legal unless it is explicitly outlawed. According to a 2014 estimate by Human Rights Watch, "Ninety percent of the world's children live in countries where corporal punishment and other physical violence against children is still legal"."25th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child". Human Rights Watch. 17 November 2014. Many countries' laws provide for a defence of "reasonable chastisement" against charges of assault and other crimes for parents using corporal punishment. The defence is ultimately derived from English law. Due to Nepal banning corporal punishment in September 2018, corporal punishment of children by parents (or other adults) is now banned in 58 countries.