UNITED KINGDOMUNITED KINGDOMResearch carried out by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in 2009 and published in 2011 involved 2,160 interviews with parents of children aged under 11, 2,275 interviews with 11-17 year olds and their parents and 1,761 interviews with 18-24 year olds on their childhood experiences. More than two in five (41.6%) of the parents or guardians interviewed said they had physically punished or “smacked” their child in the past year: 39.4% of the parents or guardians of under 11s and 45.9% of the parents or guardians of 11–17s. The report compares the responses of the 18-24 year olds to those in a similar study which examined the experiences of 18-24 year olds in 1998. In 2009, 41% of 18-24 year olds said they had been smacked on the bottom with a bare hand by an adult at home, school or elsewhere during their childhood, compared to 53.1% in 1998. Forty-three per cent had been smacked on the leg, arm or hand (61% in 1998), and 13.4% had been slapped on the face, head or ears (21.3% in 1998).
(Radford, L. et al, 2011, Child abuse and neglect in the UK today, NSPCC)
A 2011 report on madrassas (supplementary schools for Muslim children that operate outside the mainstream education system) found that children experienced corporal punishment, including being “smacked”, hit with a belt and threatened with a stick in some madrassas. The report recommended prohibition of corporal punishment in supplementary schools, including madrassas.
(Cherti, M. & Bradley, L., 2011, Inside Madrassas: Understanding and Engaging with Bristish-Muslim Faith Supplementary Schools, London: Institute for Public Policy Research)
A survey of 55 health care workers working primarily with children (including paediatricians, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, school nurses and health visitors) in Scotland found that 47% of them incorrectly believed that the law protected children from assault to a greater extent than adults, 40% correctly stated that this was not the case and 13% did not know.
(Rae, H., McKenzie, K. and Murray, G., 2010, “Health Care Workers’ Knowledge of Current Child Protection Legislation and Child Discipline Practices”, Child Abuse Review, vol. 19, pp. 259-272)
A 2010 review of the literature on UK parents’ attitudes to physical punishment highlighted the ambivalence which is evidenced by many studies. While physical punishment was found to be common by many surveys, parents’ attitudes towards it were often inconsistent or conflicting, with many parents, including those who used physical punishment, agreeing that it was not a good thing to do.
(Bunting, L., Webb, M. A. and Healy, J., 2010, “In Two Minds? Parental Attitudes Toward Physical Punishment in the UK”, Children and Society, vol. 24, pp. 359-370)
A retrospective survey of nearly 1,000 university students in China and England, carried out beween 2001 and 2004, looked at their experiences of parental discipline and their attitudes towards it. Of the English students, 43% reported being hit by their parents as children; beating with a stick, rod or branch was reported by 11% of boys and 7% of girls. Of those who had been physically punished, 60% of boys and 47% of girls said they were punished for being “disobedient”, and 75% of boys and 64% of girls for being “naughty”.
(Hester, M. et al, 2009, “Girls’ and boys’ experiences and perceptions of parental discipline and punishment while growing up in China and England”, Child Abuse Review, vol. 18, pp. 401-413)
In a survey of 1,000 parents of children aged 0-10 in Northern Ireland, 47% said that they had physically punished their children at some point and 45% had done so in the last year. On average, those who had used physical punishment during the last year had done so 8 times. The most common form of physical punishment used was a smack on the bottom with a bare hand, used by 33% of parents, on average 5.3 times in the past year. 26% of parents had slapped their child on the hand, arm or leg, on average 5.6 times in the past year, and 2.2% had hit their child on the bottom with a belt, a hairbrush, a stick or some other hard object, on average 4.5 times in the past year. Children aged 3-6 were more likely to have been physically punished in the past year (53%) than children aged 7-10 (43%) or 0-2 (33%). Two thirds of parents thought that physical punishment never or infrequently led to the child having increased respect for parents, and 60% that it never or infrequently led to the child learning acceptable behaviour. 40% thought that physical punishment always or frequently made the child more aggressive, 36% that it always or frequently led to long-term emotional upset for the child, and 60% that it always or frequently made the parent feel regret or guilt.
(Bunting, L., Webb, M. A. and Healy, J., 2008, The ‘smacking debate’ in Northern Ireland: messages from research, Barnardo’s Northern Ireland, NICCY and NSPCC Northern Ireland
www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/findings/SmackingDebateNI_wda63277.html)
Of nearly 14,000 mothers interviewed as part of the third survey of the Millennium Cohort Study, which is tracking the development of more than 15,000 UK children, 45% said that they never smacked their five year old child. Half of the mothers in Wales (49%) said that they never smacked their child, compared with 35% in Northern Ireland, 45% in England and 43% in Scotland.
(Hansen, K. and Joshi, H., 2008, Millennium Cohort Study: Third Survey: A User’s Guide to Initial Findings, London: Institute of Education
www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/core/documents/download.asp?id=1083&log_stat=1)
In 2008, a report on the ongoing Growing up in Scotland (GUS) study focussed on parenting styles. Interviews were carried out with over 4,500 parents of children aged on average 22.5 months and 2,500 parents of children aged on average 46.5 months. 34% of the parents of 3 year olds and 16% of the parents of younger children reported that they had smacked their children. Less than one in five of the parents of 3 year olds believed that smacking was useful, and fewer still of the parents of younger children.
(Bradshaw, P. et al, 2008, Growing up in Scotland: Sweep 2 Overview Report, Edinburgh: The Scottish Government
www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/212225/0056476.pdf)
An Ipsos MORI poll for Parenting Across Scotland revealed that 5% of the 1,000 parents surveyed had smacked their child “fairly often” or “sometimes” in the previous year, 15% had smacked their child one or twice during that time, and around 20% had threatened to smack their child. Only 1% believe smacking is an effective way of changing a child‟s behaviour, and 3% believe threatening to smack is effective. A majority of parents (71%) have shouted or yelled at their child, though only 7% consider this to be effective.
(Ipsos MORI, 2008, What Scottish Parents Tell Us, Edinburgh: Parenting Across Scotland)
In April 2007, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) published the results of a survey of 1,000 adults in which 77% believed smacking is becoming less acceptable. The survey was part of the NSPCC‟s campaign to stop children being smacked in shops. It revealed that a child being smacked in public had been witnessed by 41% of respondents within the previous six months. The majority of adults (86%) would be happy to shop in a smack-free shop, while 40% would actively prefer to shop where smacking was prohibited; almost all (93%) said they would like shops to take action to help parents losing their tempers with their children. When asked how they felt on seeing a child being smacked, 65% of respondents said they felt concerned for the child; 51% felt upset; 51% said they would like to stop the child being smacked, with 42% of those wanting to comfort the child and 47% wanting to help the parent.
(Reported by the NSPCC, 10 April 2007)
As part of its 2007 review into Section 58 of the Children Act 2004, the Department of Children, Schools and Families commissioned studies into the views of parents and children in England and Wales on “smacking”. The parental survey involved 1,822 parents, of whom 1,204 had children aged under 18 and 618 had children aged 18 and over. Of the parents with children aged under 18, 29% said they had smacked their child at some point in the past year. 8% had smacked in the past month and 5% in the past week. 38% said they had never smacked their child. 2-5 year olds were most likely to have been smacked in the last year, with 37% of parents of this age group saying they had done this, compared to 32% of parents of 6-10 year olds, 18% of parents of 11-15 year olds, 10% of parents of 16-17 year olds, and 9% of parents of 0-1 year olds. 57% said that they had smacked at least one of their children at some stage. 14% of parents said they had smacked their children because they “snapped” or lost their temper. 39% of parents with a child aged under 18 disagreed that “it is sometimes necessary to smack a naughty child”, and 31% agreed with the statement “I think it is always wrong to smack a child and I won’t do it”. 55% of parents disagreed that “smacking is a good way of teaching children right from wrong”.
(IPSOS Mori, 2007, A study into the views of parents on the physical punishment of children for the Department for Children, Schools and Families, DCSF)
As part of its 2007 review into Section 58 of the Children Act 2004, the Department of Children, Schools and Families commissioned studies into the views of parents and children in England and Wales on “smacking”. The study into children’s views involved 64 children aged 4-16, through group and pair discussions. The majority of the children who took part had been smacked at some point in their lives, mostly but not exclusively when they were aged under 10. Boys and girls from all social classes were smacked. Smacking was “often the most feared type of punishment”, but “children consistently agreed that it was not the most effective” (p. 55). Children highlighted the emotional impact of smacking, saying that it often made them feel “scarred, stressed, harassed and on edge” (p. 47). Most of the children “struggled to endorse smacking as an effective form of punishment” (p. 56).
(Sherbert Research, 2007, A Study into Children’s Views on Physical Discipline and Punishment, DCSF and COI)
In a survey of 1,250 people by the organisation Parenting Across Scotland, 90% of respondents said they choose to discuss problems. While 7% said it was acceptable to smack a child, 20% admitted having done so in the last year, with a further 36% saying they had threatened physical punishment.
(Reported in BBC News, 27 February 2007)
Between November 2005 and October 2006, there were a total of 3,036 incidents of restraint in the four secure training centres (STCs); 41% of these (1,245 incidents) were perpetrated on girls who represent 34% of the STC population.
(Reply to Parliamentary question, reported in The Howard League for Penal Reform, 2007, Briefing for House of Lords Debate on the use of restraint in secure training centres)
61% of 1,629 parents who took part in a survey on interactions between parents and children in Northern Ireland said they never spanked their child. Younger children were more likely to be physically punished than older children, and boys were more likely to be physically punished than girls.
(Devine, P. & Lloyd, K., 2005, Research Update: Bringing up baby, Queen’s University and University of Ulster: ARK NI Social and Political Archive
www.ark.ac.uk/publications/updates/update40.pdf)
In a 2004 poll of 2,004 adults in England and Wales, 56% agreed that “it is wrong for someone to hit a child in their family”, compared with 31% who disagreed. Over half of the respondents (57%) thought that children and adults should have the same protection in law from being hit while nearly a third (29%) thought children should have more protection; only 7% thought that adults should have greater protection from assault. Nearly three quarters (71%) said they would support changing the law to give children the same protection from being hit as adult family members.
(MORI, 2004, Attitudes to hitting family members: Research study conducted for the Children Are Unbeatable! Alliance)
In a 2003 study carried out for the Economic and Social Research Council, 58% of parents reported using “minor” physical punishment (such as “smacking” or “slapping”) in the last year, and 71% reported having used it at some point. 9% reported using “severe” physical punishment in the last year, and 16% reported using it at some point. Parents with children aged 2-4 years old were significantly more likely to use minor and/or severe physical punishment than other parents, with 85% reporting using it in the last year. 40% of parents thought it was never acceptable to smack a child, and 98% thought it was never acceptable to hit a child with an implement such as a slipper or belt. The study examined the circumstances in which conflict occurs between parents and children, and found that parents who used physical punishment were twice as likely as parents who did not use physical punishment to report feeling distressed at the time of the conflict, and to say that their child was upset. They were also more likely to report having been in a “bad mood” beforehand and to describe their reaction as “automatic” or “spur of the moment”. The study involved a survey of 1,250 parents of children aged 0-12, and discussions with adults and children.
(Ghate D., Hazel N., Creighton S., Finch S. and Field J., 2003, The National Study of Parents, Children and Discipline in Britain: Key Findings, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC): Swindon
www.nspcc.org.uk/inform/publications/downloads/parentschildrenanddisciplinesummary_wdf48031.pdf)
A study into the views and experiences of children in Wales on “smacking” involved 77 children aged 4-10, through use of group discussions prompted by a specially created storybook. Children said that “smacking” is hitting, and that it happened when children were “naughty”, which included not listening, not doing as they were told, lying, running away, and behaving violently towards other children. Parents and other relatives smacked children, usually in the house where nobody else could see. Children were often smacked on the bottom, but also on their legs, hands, faces and other parts of the body. They emphasised the physical and emotional pain caused by smacking, saying that smacking “burns”, “stings”, was “painful”, and made them cry and feel “upset”. Smacking was commonly associated with adults who are angry. Children also said that some adults regret smacking or are sad about it. Children were asked why children don’t smack adults and replied that children are too scared to smack adults, and that adults are bigger and stronger than children. When asked why adults don’t smack each other, children said that adults like each other, want to behave well towards one another and do not want to fight. Two-thirds of the children involved said that when they grew up, they would not smack children. Children said that they didn’t like smacking and that smacking is wrong. They suggested that smacking could be stopped by children behaving differently, by asking adults to stop, and by making smacking against the law. Instead of smacking, adults could send children to their rooms, “ground” them, or take away their pocket money or other things they like.
(Crowley, A. and Vulliamy, C., [2002], Listen Up: Children Talk About Smacking, Save the Children UK)
Research by Save the Children in Northern Ireland, published in 2002, involved questionnaires and interviews with 189 children aged 4-11 years. Two thirds believed that children were hit because they are “bad, bold, cheeky, doing things wrong or doing wrong things”; one in four believed that children are hit because of how the adult is feeling. More than 80% of children used words like “hurt, sad, sore, upset, unhappy, unloved, heartbroken, awful” to describe how they felt when they were hit. 94% said they would not smack their children when they themselves became parents. Fewer than three in 20 thought it was acceptable for an adult to hit a child.
(Horgan, G., 2002, It’s a hit, not a “smack”: A booklet about what children think about being hit or smacked by adults, Belfast: Save the Children)
A study carried out in Scotland in 2002 involved 20 small group and individual interviews followed by a survey of 692 parents. 39% of the parents said that they had “smacked” their child on the bottom in the past year, and 8% in the past week. 33% said that they had smacked their child on the hand, arm or leg in the past year, and 6% that they had smacked or slapped their child on the face, head or ear. Overall, 51% of parents had used some kind of physical punishment in the past year, and 10% in the past week. 90% of incidents of physical punishment took place in the home. 53% of parents felt guilty after the last time they had used physical punishment. 13% of parents thought that parents should not smack their children in any circumstances. 80% of parents thought that there was an age below which children should not be smacked. Of these, Of these, 17% thought the age was one year, 29% thought the age was 2 and 23% thought the age was 3. 66% of parents thought there was an age above which children should not be smacked. Of these, 76% suggested age 8 or above. When asked how much they knew about the current law on physical punishment, 80% of parents said “not very much” or “nothing at all”. 15% of parents thought incorrectly that it was illegal to smack a child of any age and 37% that it was illegal to smack a child under a particular age.
(Anderson S., Murray L. and Brownlie J., 2002, Disciplining Children: Research with Parents in Scotland, Scottish Executive Central Research Unit: Edinburgh
www.scotland.gov.uk/cru/kd01/blue/dcrp.pdf)