LATVIALATVIAA 2009 survey of 1,010 respondents found that 38.9% believed that corporal punishment should never be used. 48.8% believed that it “should not be used in general, but there are situations when it is justified” and 8.5% that it “may be used if the parent considers that it will be effective”. In an identical survey with a similar sample in 2005, 12.1% said that corporal punishment “may be used.” 47% of respondents to the 2009 survey believed that over 40% of children in Latvia experience corporal punishment. Results were similar in 2005.
(Marketing and public opinion research centre SKDS, 2009, Attitude towards corporal punishment of children: survey of Latvia’s population www.canee.net/files/Omnibus research Latvia 2009.pdf)
Part of the Childhood Without Abuse project, which includes studies carried out in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine in 2005 and 2009. www.canee.net/bulgaria/research_on_the_problem_of_child_abuse_in_eastern_europe
A 2009 survey of 214 teachers in primary schools in Riga found that 54% belived that corporal punishment is humiliating for the child and 44% believed that it meant that “the parents are not good at rearing children”. 22% of respondents felt that the use of “spanking” as a punishment would justify intervention by a third party.
(Nobody’s Children Foundation and Center Against Abuse “Dardedze”, 2009, Riga teachers’ attitudes toward child abuse: Research report
www.canee.net/files/Teachers studies Latvia 2009.pdf)
Part of the Childhood Without Abuse project, which includes studies carried out in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine in 2005 and 2009. www.canee.net/bulgaria/research_on_the_problem_of_child_abuse_in_eastern_europe