Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Corporal Punishment: Current Rates from a National Survey

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Child and Family Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

To assess the prevalence of corporal punishment usage in the US population.

Methods

This study was based on a 2014 cross-sectional, telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of US households with children. Reports about spanking of 0–9 year olds were obtained from parents, while reports about 10–17 year olds were obtained from the youth themselves.

Results

The survey suggested that a majority of children in the US were not subject to corporal punishment in 2014. The rate was 49% in the past year for children ages 0–9, 23% for youth 10–17 and 37% overall. Rates of spanking were lower for girls compared to boys, Northeasterners compared to Southerners, and whites compared to blacks. They were also lower among those with a graduate education, and families with fewer than 3 children. The proportion of children subject to corporal punishment had declined by 2014 compared to other national surveys conducted in 1975 and 1985. This is in line with other studies showing declines of 26–40% in the spanking of kindergarden age children from 1988 to 2011.

Conclusion

The trends suggest a continuing reduction of spanking in the population. Because of growing research and advocacy about this practice both nationally and internationally, it may be that awareness is having some impact and it will continue to decline.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acierno, R., Resnick, H., Kilpatrick, D. G., & Stark-Riemer, W. (2003). Assessing elder victimization—Demonstration of a methodology. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 38(11), 644–653. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-003-0686-4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • American Academy of Chiild & Adolescent Psychiatry. (2012). Corporal punishment. Policy statement. https://www.aacap.org/aacap/Policy_Statements/2012/Policy_Statement_on_Corporal_Punishment.aspx.

  • American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, & Child Maltreatment and Violence Committee. (2012). Corporal punishment. https://www.aacap.org/aacap/Policy_Statements/2012/Policy_Statement_on_Corporal_Punishment.aspx.

  • Bader, C. D., Mencken, F. C., & Froese, P. (2007). American piety 2005: Content and methods of the Baylor Religion Survey. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 46(4), 447–463. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2007.00371.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bajos, N., Spira, A., Ducot, B., & Messiah, A. (1992). Analysis of sexual behavior in France (ACSF): A comparison between two modes of investigation: Telephone survey and face-to-face survey. AIDS, 6(3), 315–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bermack, E. (1989). Effects of telephone & face-to-face communication on rated extent of self-disclosure by female college students. Psychological Reports, 65(1), 259–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clément, M.-È., & Chamberland, C. (2014). Trends in corporal punishment and attitudes in favour of this practice: Toward a change in societal norms. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, 33(2), 13–29. https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2014-013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health. (1998). Guidance for effective discipline. Pediatrics, 101(4), 723–728. [published correction appears in Pediatrics. 1998;1102(1992, pt 1991):1433].

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corso, R.A., Harris, P., & Public Relations, & Harris Interactive. (2013). Four in five americans believe parents spaning their children is sometimes appropriate. The Harris Poll, (#67). Retrieved from https://theharrispoll.com/new-york-n-y-september-26-2013-to-spank-or-not-to-spank-its-an-age-old-question-that-every-parent-must-face-some-parents-may-start-off-with-the-notion-that-i-will-never-spank-my-child-bu/.

  • Czaja, R. (1987). Asking sensitive behavioral questions in telephone interviews. International Quarterly of Community Health Education, 8(1), 23–32. https://doi.org/10.2190/XT6W-31CX-TD87-E643.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ellison, C. G., & Bradshaw, M. (2009). Religious beliefs, sociopolitical ideology, and attitudes toward corporal punishment. Journal of Family Issues, 30(3), 320–340. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513x08326331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finkelhor, D. (2014). Trends in bullying & peer victimization. Durham, NH: Crimes against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finkelhor, D., Saito, K., & Jones, L. (2018). Updated trends in child maltreatment, 2016. Durham, NH: Crimes against Children Research Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finkelhor, D., Turner, H., Shattuck, A., & Hamby, S. (2015). Prevalence of childhood exposure to violence, crime, and abuse. JAMA Pediatrics, 169(8), 746–754. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.0676.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gelles, R. J., & Straus, M. A. (1987). Is violence toward children increasing? A comparison of 1975 and 1985 national survey rates. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2, 212–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gershoff, E. T. (2002). Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 128(4), 539–579.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gershoff, E. T., & Font, S. A. (2016). Corporal punishment in US public schools: Prevalence, disparities in use, and status in state and federal policy. Social Policy Report, 30(1), 1–25.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gershoff, E. T., & Grogan-Kaylor, A. (2016). Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses. Journal of Family Psychology, 30(4), 453–469. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000191.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gershoff, E. T., Lansford, J. E., Sexton, H. R., Davis‐Kean, P., & Sameroff, A. J. (2012). Longitudinal links between spanking and children’s externalizing behaviors in a national sample of White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian American families. Child Development, 83(3), 838–843. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01732.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gershoff, E. T., Purtell, K. M., & Holas, I. (2015). Prevalence of and attitudes about school corporal punishment in the US bans on school corporal punishment in the US Corporal Punishment in US Public Schools: Springer briefs in Psychology (pp. 9–24). Cham: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gershoff, E. T., Sattler, K. M., & Ansari, A. (2017). Strengthening causal estimates for links between spanking and children’s externalizing behavior problems. Psychological Science, 29(1), 110–120. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617729816.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children. (2018) States which have prohibited all corporal punishment. http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/progress/prohibiting-states/.

  • Hoffmann, J. P., Ellison, C. G., & Bartkowski, J. P. (2017). Conservative protestantism and attitudes toward corporal punishment, 1986–2014. Social Science Research, 63, 81–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.09.010.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holden, G. W., Brown, A. S., Baldwin, A. S., & Caderao, K. C. (2014). Research findings can change attitudes about corporal punishment. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38(5), 902–908. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.10.013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holden, G. W., Grogan-Kaylor, A., Durrant, J. E., & Gershoff, E. T. (2017). Researchers deserve a better critique: Response to Larzelere, Gunnoe, Roberts, and Ferguson (2017). Marriage & Family Review, 53(5), 465–490. https://doi.org/10.1080/01494929.2017.1308899.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klevens, J., Kollar, L. M., Rizzo, G., O’Shea, G., Nguyen, J., & Roby, S. (2019). Commonalities and differences in social norms related to corporal punishment among black, latino and white parents. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-018-0591-z.

  • Lansford, J. E., Cappa, C., Putnick, D. L., Bornstein, M. H., Deater-Deckard, K., & Bradley, R. H. (2017). Change over time in parents’ beliefs about and reported use of corporal punishment in eight countries with and without legal bans. Child Abuse & Neglect, 71, 44–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.10.016.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marin, G., & Marin, B. (1989). A comparison of three interviewing approaches for studying sensitive topics with Hispanics. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 11(4), 330–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAuliffe, W. E., Geller, S., LaBrie, R., Paletz, S., & Fournier, E. (1998). Are telephone surveys suitable for studying substance abuse? Cost, administration, coverage and response rate issues. Journal of Drug Issues, 28(2), 455–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Association of Social Workers. (2012). Physical punishment of children social work speaks: NASW Policy statements, 2012–2014. Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patton, S. (2017). Spare the kids: Why whupping children won’t save Black America. Boston: Beacon Press.

  • Pew Research Center. (2015). Parenting in America: Outlook, worries, aspirations are strongly linked to financial situation.

  • Pruchno, R. A., & Hayden, J. M. (2000). Interview modality: Effects on costs and data quality in a sample of older women. Journal of Aging and Health, 12(1), 3–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, R. M., Kalil, A., Ziol-Guest, K. M., & Padilla, C. (2016). Socioeconomic gaps in parents’ discipline strategies from 1988 to 2011. Pediatrics, 138(6), e20160720–e20160720. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-0720.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sputa, C. L., & Paulson, S. E. (1995). Birth order and family size: Influences on adolescents’ achievement and related parenting behaviors. Psychological Reports, 76(1), 43–51. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1995.76.1.43.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Straus, M. A., Douglas, E. M., & Medeiros, R. A. (2014). The primordial violence: Spanking children, psychologial development, violence, and crime. New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Straus, M. A., & Gelles, R. J. (1986). Societal changes and change in family violence from 1975 to 1985 as revealed by two national surveys. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 48, 465–480.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Straus, M. A., & Mathur, A. K. In D. Frehsee, W. Horn, K.-D. Bussmann, (Eds) 1996). Social change and trends in approval of corporal punishment by parents from 1968 to 1994. Family violence against children: A challenge for society. (Also an updated version as “The decline in Approval of Spanking”, 2013, Chapter 17 in Murray A. Straus, Emily M. Douglas, & Rose A. Maderios (Eds), The primordial violence: Spanking children, psychologial development, violence, and crime. New York: Routledge. (pp. 91–105). New York, NY: Walter deGruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Straus, M. A., & Stewart, J. H. (1999). Corporal punishment by American parents: National data on prevalence, chronicity, severity, and duration, in relation to child, and family characteristics. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 2(2), 55–70. A revised version of “Corporal punishment in the United States” (2014). In Murray A. Straus., Emily M. Douglas & Rose Anne Medeiros (Eds), The primordial violence: Spanking children, psychological development, violence, and crime (pp. 23–40). New York: Routledge.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, C. A., McKasson, S., Hoy, G., & DeJong, W. (2017). Parents’ primary professional sources of parenting advice moderate predictors of parental attitudes toward corporal punishment. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26(2), 652–663. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-016-0586-3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC). (2016). APSAC position statement on corporal punishment of children, 1–7. https://apsac.memberclicks.net/assets/documents/corporal%20punishment%20position%20statement.pdf.

  • The Gallup Organization. (1995). Disciplining children in America: A Gallup poll report (Survey, #765). Princeton, NJ: The Gallup Organization.

  • Trifan, T. A., Stattin, H., & Tilton‐Weaver, L. (2014). Have authoritarian parenting practices and roles changed in the last 50 years? Journal of Marriage and Family, 76(4), 744–761. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trillingsgaard, T., & Sommer, D. (2018). Associations between older maternal age, use of sanctions, and children’s socio-emotional development through 7, 11, and 15 years. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 15(2), 141–155. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2016.1266248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weeks, M. F., Kulka, R. A., Lessler, J. T., & Whitmore, R. W. (1983). Personal versus telephone surveys from collecting household health data at the local level. American Journal of Public Health, 73(12), 1389–1394.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Zolotor, A. J., Theodore, A. D., Runyan, D. K., Chang, J. J., & Laskey, A. L. (2011). Corporal punishment and physical abuse: Population‐based trends for three‐to‐11‐year‐old children in the United States. Child Abuse Review, 20(1), 57–66. https://doi.org/10.1002/car.1128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author Contributions

D.F.: obtained funding, helped to design the study, develop the questionnaire, conceptualized the data analyses, and wrote the majority of the text paper. H.T.: collaborated with the funding, design, questionnaire, conceptualization of the data analysis and review of the text. B.K.W.: analyzed the data. J.V.: collaborated with conceptualization and completion the data analysis and writing of the study. S.H.: collaborated with the design, questionnaire, and conceptualization of the data analusis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Crimes against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA

    David Finkelhor & Heather Turner

  2. University of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC, USA

    Brittany Kaye Wormuth & Jennifer Vanderminden

  3. Sewanee The University of the South, Sewanee, TN, USA

    Sherry Hamby

Authors
  1. David Finkelhor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Heather Turner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Brittany Kaye Wormuth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jennifer Vanderminden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Sherry Hamby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Finkelhor.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were conducted with the approval and under the supervision of the Institional Review Board of the University of New Hampshire.

Informed Consent

All participants were read consent statements and asked to confirm their approval. In the case of the interviews with the 10–17 year olds this involves consent from the parents and a separate assent from the youth.

Additional information

Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Finkelhor, D., Turner, H., Wormuth, B.K. et al. Corporal Punishment: Current Rates from a National Survey. J Child Fam Stud 28, 1991–1997 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01426-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01426-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation