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A telephone interview survey of 600 adults in each of the 50 states, carried out by SurveyUSA of Verona NJ in August 2005, found that overall almost three out of four (72%) supported the use of spanking as a disciplinary method (ranging from 55% in Vermont to 87% in Alabama), with almost one in four (23%) believing it acceptable for a teacher to spank a child (ranging from 8% in New Hampshire to 53% in Arkansas and Mississippi). Nearly one third (31%) believed it is acceptable to wash out a child’s mouth with soap (from 23% in Hawaii, Maryland and Massachusetts to 46% in Idaho). (SurveyUSA, Verona NJ, August 2005, Disciplining a Child 08/24/05, www.surveyusa.com/50StateDisciplineChild0805SortedbyTeacher.htm)
A nationally representative sample of 991 American parents, interviewed in the mid-1990s, examined six types of corporal punishment: slaps on the hand or leg, spanking on the buttocks, pinching, shaking, hitting on the buttocks with a belt or paddle and slapping in the face. The study found that the overall percentage of parents using any of these types of corporal punishment during the previous year was 35% for infants and reached a peak of 94% at ages 3 and 4 years. Despite a rapid decline in use after the age of 5 years, just over half of American parents hit children at age 12 years, a third at age 14 years, and 13% at age 17 years. Further analysis found that parents who hit teenage children did so on average about six times during the year. Severity, as measured by hitting the child with a belt or paddle, was greatest for children aged 512 years (28% of such children). (Straus, M. A. & Stewart, J. H., 1999, “Corporal Punishment by American Parents: National Data on Prevalence, Chronicity, Severity, and Duration, in Relation to Child and Family Characteristics”, Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, vol. 2, no. 2, pp.55-70)
An ABC News telephone poll of a random national sample of 1,015 adults in 2002 found that overall 65% approved of spanking children, with 31% disapproving; 72% thought that teachers should not be permitted to spank children in school. (ABC News poll conducted by telephone, 25-29 October 2002; fieldwork by International Communications Research of Media, Pennsylvania)
Other research has found that over 90% of toddlers are spanked or subjected to other forms of corporal punishment, and almost 50% of adults recall receiving corporal punishment as children. (Straus, M. A. & Kantor, G. K. (1994), “Corporal punishment of adolescents by parents: A risk factor in the epidemiology of depression, suicide, alcohol abuse, child abuse, and wife beating”, Adolescence, vol. 29, pp.543-561. Cited in Youssef, M. S.-E.-D. A. & Kamel, M. I., 1998, “Children experiencing violence I: Parental use of corporal punishment”, Child Abuse and Neglect, vol. 22, no. 10, p.960)
A review of the research literature on child abuse in daycare settings, with an emphasis on identifying variables associated with victims, perpetrators and settings, found that physical abuse in daycare centres and homes most frequently occurred in the context of “disciplining” the child, and may have been supported by parental permission for corporal punishment. (Schumacher, R.B. & Carlson, R.S., 1999, “Variables and risk factors associated with child abuse in daycare settings”, Child Abuse & Neglect, vol. 23, no. 9, pp.891-898)
In a survey of American primary care physicians, 67% supported physical punishment, with younger physicians more likely to support corporal punishment (63% aged over 40, 72% under 40). (McCormick, K. F., 1992, “Attitudes of primary care physicians and pediatricians towards corporal punishment”, Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 267, pp.3161-3165. Cited in Hesketh, T., Hong, Z. S. & Lynch, M. A., 2000, “Child abuse in China: the views and experiences of child health professionals”, Child Abuse & Neglect, vol. 24, no. 6, pp.867-872)
A 1995 survey in America found that 49% of parents admitted to disciplining their children by hitting the child with an object other than on the buttocks, kicking the child, beating the child, and threatening the child with a gun. (Straus, M. A. et al., 1998, “Identification of child maltreatment with the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales: development and psychometric data for a national sample of American parents”, Child Abuse & Neglect, vol. 22, pp.249-270. Cited in Krug, E. G. et al., eds, 2002, World report on violence and health, Geneva: World Health Organisation, p.62)
Official data on corporal punishment in US public schools for the 1999-2000 school year, released in February 2003 (and as at July 2005 the most recent available), reported that overall 342,038 students were subjected to corporal punishment. This is a drop of 7% from the previous survey two years earlier (taking enrolment increases into account), and continues a steady trend. Total US public school enrolment in 1999-2000 was 46,306,355. According to data for the 23 states which have not prohibited all corporal punishment in public schools, the highest rates for school corporal punishment were in Mississippi (48,627 or 9.8% of students), Arkansas (40,437 or 9.1% of students), Alabama (39,197 or 5.4% of students), and Tennessee (38,373 or 4.2% of students). Black students were hit at a rate more than twice their proportion in the population: they comprised 17% of students, but suffered 39% of paddlings; white students made up 62% of all students, but suffered 53% of the corporal punishment. (US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, 2000 Elementary and Secondary School Civil Rights Compliance Report, analysis from the Center for Effective Discipline, www.stophitting.com)
Federal statistics show that during the 2002-3 school year, more than 300,000 American schoolchildren were disciplined with corporal punishment, usually one or more blows with a thick wooden paddle. Sometimes holes were cut in the paddle to make the beating more painful. Of those students, 70% were in five Southern states: Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas. (Reported in New York Times, 30 September 2006)
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