SWEDEN

A study of the relationship between gender and physical punishment in China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand and the US, which used interviews with around 4,000 mothers, fathers and children aged 7-10, found that in Sweden, none of the boys or girls had experienced severe corporal punishment (hitting or slapping the child on the face, head, or ears; beating the child repeatedly with an implement) by someone in their household in the past month, and none of the parents believed that it was necessary to use corporal punishment to bring up their child. Nine per cent of girls and 6% of boys had experienced “mild” corporal punishment (spanking, hitting, or slapping with a bare hand; hitting or slapping on the hand, arm, or leg; shaking; or hitting with an object) by someone in their household in the past month.

(Lansford, J. et al, 2010, “Corporal Punishment of Children in Nine Countries as a Function of Child Gender and Parent Gender”, International Journal of Pediatrics)

A study carried out in 2007 examined five European countries: Sweden, Austria, Germany, France and Spain. Five thousand parents (1,000 in each nation) were interviewed about their use of and attitude towards corporal punishment, their own experiences of violence and their knowledge and beliefs about the law. 14% of Swedish parents said they had “mildly” slapped their child on the face and 17% had slapped their child on the bottom. 4% had given their child a “resounding” slap on the face and 1.8% had beaten their child with an object. 76% of Swedish parents never used corporal punishment. 88% agreed that “one should try to use as little corporal punishment as possible” and 93% agreed that “non-violent child-rearing is the ideal”.

(Bussmann, K. D., 2009, The Effect of Banning Corporal Punishment in Europe: A Five-Nation Comparison, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg)
Download report here.