FINLAND

A study on violence experienced by Finnish children examined the prevalence of corporal punishment in 1988 and 2008. The study, published by the Police College of Finland, involved over 13,000 children aged 12-15. In 1988, around a quarter of the children had been smacked before age 14, and around a third had been whipped. In 2008, around 10% had experienced these types of punishment. There had been a clear reduction in all forms of corporal punishment and other parental violence against children in the past twenty years, with the most significant reduction in the the “relatively mild forms of violence previously considered socially acceptable types of corporal punishment” (p. 160).

(Ellonen, N., Kääriäinen, J. Salmi, V. & Sariola, H., 2008, Lasten ja nuorten väkivaltakokemukset. Tutkimus peruskoulun 6. - 9. luokan oppilaiden kokemasta väkivallasta, Poliisiammattikorkeakoulun Raportteja 71/2008)

A nationwide survey of 1,000 people aged 15 to 79, commissioned by the Central Union of Child Welfare and conducted by the research company Taloustutkimus, found that one in four considers physical discipline of children to be acceptable at least in exceptional situations, representing an improvement from approval of corporal punishment by one in three in 2004. But the study found a high prevalence of corporal punishment, with 73% of women and 68% of men reporting that they had sometimes used physical punishment.

(Reported in Helsingin Sanomat, International Edition, 28 September 2007)