ISRAEL

A survey published in 2003 assessed 107 physicians’ attitudes towards corporal punishment and their reporting of child abuse. Corporal punishment was perceived as an acceptable disciplinary act by 58% of the physicians. 84% of the sample were native born Israelis or had been Israeli citizens for at least 20 years, while 16% were immigrants who had arrived from the former Soviet Federation in the past three years. There was found to be a significant difference between the attitudes of Israeli and immigrant physicians towards corporal punishment, with greater proportions of immigants than Israelis finding corporal punishment acceptable in most cases. For example, 58.5% of immigrants believed it was acceptable for a parent to slap a child’s face, compared to 14.4% of Israelis, and 68.7% of immigrants believed that smacking a child’s bottom and leaving a red mark was acceptable, compared to 56.3% of Israelis.

(Tirosh E, Shechter S O, Cohenc A, Jaffe M, (2003) “Attitudes towards corporal punishment and reporting of abuse”, Child Abuse & Neglect, vol. 27, no.8, pp.  929–937)