Smacking children doesn't work, researcher says, but new study suggests many Kiwi parents still for it

April 29, 2021

There was a significant reduction in physical punishment between 2002 and 2017, but Melanie Woodfield told Breakfast found it to be prevalent.

The latest data from a study looking at how much parents still physically discipline their children shows the practice still remains common despite a drop in its use over the past 15 years.

By Jane Nixon and Irra Lee

Participants in the study were members of the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS) - a longitudinal study of 1,265 children, including 630 females, born in Christchurch over a four-month period during 1977.

According to the Christchurch campus of Otago University, this cohort has been studied regularly from birth to age 40.

The latest data, released today, shows the patterns of discipline used by 763 parents from the cohort between 2002 and 2017.

Senior research fellow at the Christchurch Health and Development study at the Otago University, Geraldine McLeod, told 1 NEWS that “about 42 per cent are reporting they are physically disciplining their child”.

“At age 25, 77.4 per cent of participants said they said were going to disicpline their child,” she said. Adding that the latest data collection included “everything from smacking through to the worst kind of assault”.

Data shows children aged between two and four were at the highest risk and were most likely to have physical discipline used against them. The second highest range is children under age of 10.

“No one’s happy that there’s child physical punishment at all but at least we know what our starting point is in order to proceed,” McLeod said.

She says researchers were able to control the study to account for the age and counted the number of children within certain age bands.

But the number’s down significantly after smacking was outlawed in 2007.

She says parents may have been conservative with their reporting of use of physical discipline. 

"We have reasons to believe that the rates we report will be lower than the true rate. However, we have tried to eliminate this reporting bias as much as possible by using the same interviewers for each interview, using a validated questionnaire in a consistent manner and keeping our cohort members' confidentiality by not disclosing their personal information," McLeod said. 

Lianne Woodward, a co-author of the study and a long-time researcher with the Christchurch Health and Development Study, said the downward trend suggested a shift in the social attitude about using physical punishment.

She said part of the changes in attitude could have been helped by the “anti-smacking bill” of 2007, but added a change in the law alone wasn't enough.

"We also have to support some of the more vulnerable families that aren’t just going to respond to a law change … and maybe you don't have the parenting toolkit to find those alternative strategies.”

She said this meant proactive steps needed to be taken to support these families, which could come in the form of targeted support programmes, education for parents, or public health campaigns.

Woodward said this was especially important as the research had highlighted several characteristics that could predict an increased likelihood in the use of physical punishment.

These predictors included the number and ages of children living in one household, the socioeconomic status of a parent, how young a parent is when they have children, and a parent’s history with mental health problems alongside intimate partner violence.
 

Children's Commissioner expresses disappointment

Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft told 1 NEWS the results were both "disappointing and reassuring".

"I’m encouraged by the clear trend across all forms but it’s troubling that it still continues.

"It’s representative of one cohort born in 1977, one group in one year in one generation, but there has been a discernible drop over the years.

"The terrible twos and the terrible threes indicates that defiant behaviours can be challenging to parents that those years are particularly difficult and statistically that punishment can be used," Becroft said. 

He says New Zealanders "still have a way to go", adding that a "change in attitude takes time because attitudes are changing".

"There is still a strong correlation with partner violence and physical punishment.

“The law change has prompted and provoked a change in behaviour. We are part of a generational shift,” he said.

“No-one’s saying that children shouldn’t be subject to boundaries. … It's just saying the use of physical punishment is inappropriate, outdated, harmful, and just plain wrong. That message has been received.”

But New Zealand’s rates of child abuse and neglect were still “appallingly high”, Becroft added.

Younger parents more likely to use physical discipline - Psychologist

University of Auckland clinical psychologist Dr Melanie Woodfield says "there’s no ‘them’ and ‘us’ here. Many parents of young children occasionally experience a fleeting thought or an urge to hit their child".

"Usually, after a thought or urge to hit a child, emotion regulation, self-control, and inhibition mean the urge passes - and the parent instead chooses another response. However, where parents are chronically stressed, overwhelmed, isolated, unsupported or have pre-existing difficulties with emotion regulation, this process of inhibition may be compromised," Woodfield, who is also a Health Research Council Fellow at The Werry Centre for Infant, Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ICAMH), said.

"The paper reports data suggesting younger parents were more likely to use physical punishment. Younger parents may have fewer response strategies, smaller parent networks or fewer natural opportunities to reflect on how they approach their child’s challenging behaviour. In this study, they were also more likely to have experienced abuse or family violence themselves in childhood.

"The authors recommend tailored individual programmes for vulnerable parents, and wider population-level discussions and initiatives to promote safe and effective parenting behaviour. These programmes and initiatives are already available in New Zealand, and the challenge now is to make these more accessible to those in need, and to continue to reduce the stigma associated with asking for help," Woodfield said.

She later told Breakfast many parents have the urge to strike or hit their child in the midst of a really challenging situation. 

"It can be overwhelming, especially if that parent is isolated, unsupported, deprived, exhausted."

Woodfield said physical discipline was not a good idea because it was not "particularly safe".

"There are short-term and longer-term effects, but I think one of the most compelling reasons for parents is it's not particularly effective. 

"It doesn't work."

The CHDS recruited 1265 babies in 1977, gaining parental consent. After some “attrition” McLeod says the study doesn’t have a “full quota” but have still retained 78 per cent of the surviving cohort. “At age 40, roughly half of the participants are still in Christchurch,” she said.

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