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Is It Considered Violence? The Acceptability of Physical Punishment of Children in Europe
Author(s) -
Gracia Enrique,
Herrero Juan
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2007.00472.x
Subject(s) - punishment (psychology) , ordered logit , psychology , logistic regression , population , corporal punishment , european union , domestic violence , child discipline , ordinal regression , human factors and ergonomics , demography , poison control , social psychology , medicine , economics , sociology , environmental health , mathematics , economic policy , statistics
This study analyzes correlates of the acceptability of physical punishment of children in Europe. The design was a three‐level ordinal logistic regression of 10,812 people nested within 208 localities (cities), nested within 14 countries of the European Union. Results showed that higher levels of acceptability were reported by men, the older, the less educated, and those who perceived that violence against children was less frequent in their own country. At the country level, the existence of laws prohibiting physical punishment of children as well as a lower number of child maltreatment deaths were significantly associated with lower levels of acceptability of physical punishment of children. Findings suggest that education efforts at the individual and population level are needed.