Press Release – Science Media Centre
New data from more than 700 Kiwis suggests physical discipline of children by parents dropped between 2002 and 2017.
However, the study authors say the practice remains fairly common, even after the 2007 anti-smacking law came into place, and they call for more effort to promote child-friendly parenting techniques.
The SMC asked experts to comment on the research.
Dr Melanie Woodfield, Clinical Psychologist, Health Research Council Fellow – The Werry Centre for infant, child and adolescent mental health, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Auckland, comments:
“Most parents don’t start the day intending to strike their child. Yet the latest paper from the internationally-regarded Christchurch longitudinal study suggests physical punishment is still used by a subset of parents. Encouragingly though, the overall trend is downward.
Georgia Forrester02:05, Apr 30 2021
Charles Deluvio/ Unsplash
A researcher says it s disappointing some parents still view physical punishment, such as smacking, as an acceptable form of discipline. (File photo)
It’s still “fairly common” for some parents to physically discipline their children, despite the country’s anti-smacking law change, new research has found. In an effort to improve child health outcomes in New Zealand, the Government introduced anti-smacking legislation in 2007 that prohibited the physical punishment of children. New research, published in the
New Zealand Medical Journal on Friday, examined how the prevalence of child physical punishment changed in the 15-year period between 2002 and 2017 – before and after the legislation came into force.
Physical punishment has been shown to have detrimental effects on children later in their lives, including affecting relationships, their mental health, educational achievement and criminal activity.
But despite the falling rates of use, the authors found that the practice still remains fairly common in New Zealand, even after the implementation of the 2007 anti-smacking law. These findings suggest that despite both changing perceptions towards physical punishment and violence toward children and the 2007 legislation, a substantial minority of New Zealanders may still view physical punishment as an acceptable form of child discipline, the authors wrote.
Researchers are now calling for more effort to be put into promoting child-friendly parenting techniques.