NCJ Number
159418
Date Published
1993
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This study reports on parental attitudes toward and behaviors in the use of physical punishment in childrearing in New Zealand.
Abstract
Using a specially devised Conflict Tactics Scale, a selected sample of 1,000 New Zealanders aged 15 years or over were surveyed in August 1993 as part of a telephone political opinion poll. All replies were analyzed by comparing the gender, age, socioeconomic status, and highest educational level of the respondent. Results show that the attitudes and behavior of New Zealanders regarding physical punishment in the home are apparently changing when compared to earlier similar studies. Although smacking with the hand is still both approved and used as a standard parental response to the misbehavior of children of all ages, anything more severe is no longer part of the repertoire of most parents or the experience of most children. Further evidence of change is provided by the differences among groups in the sample. Younger parents, current parents, and the more highly educated are all less likely to report using and endorsing the more severe forms of physical punishment than those who are older, who have never had children, or who have less education. Parents are increasingly making use of a range of nonphysical responses to misbehavior and are most often explaining or discussing matters with their children. In 1990 New Zealand outlawed the use of corporal punishment in schools, and within only a few years this has become accepted. 2 figures, 3 tables, and 25 references