A Canadian Journal of Public Health study says while “support for, and use of, spanking may be declining in Canada,” 20 per cent of Gen Z and millennial parents still use it.
The research, published last week, says that when Canadian parents aged 18 to 27 (Gen Zs) and millennial parents (ages 28 to 42) were asked whether they have ever spanked their child or children on their bottom with their hand, about 20 per cent said “yes.”
“The prevalence of spanking history among Canadian adults is high,” the study states.
The study is the first of its kind to provide details on the national landscape of spanking.
The researchers found that “having a history of being spanked as a child was associated with increasing odds of spanking one’s own child.”
Out of the 4,000 surveyed adults, when asked about perceptual beliefs about spanking, 15 per cent of parents overall believe “it is necessary to use spanking to properly raise a child.”
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More than 72 per cent “did not support this belief,” 10.6 per cent stated they did not know and 1.8 per cent said they preferred not to answer.
In addition, 55.6 per cent of parents reported experiencing being spanked (three times or more) as a child, 40.2 per cent indicated they were spanked between none and two times, while 3.6 per cent reported not knowing about their spanking history.
Those most likely to spank are mothers (74.5 per cent), while fathers voiced similar but slightly lower support (73.4 per cent).
Among those who were spanked, 22.6 per cent reported it “leaving a mark or a bruise or causing lasting physical pain.”
A 2022 BMC Public Health study conducted in Manitoba found 18.5 per cent of parents and 22 per cent of adolescents “agreeing with the statement that spanking is a normal part of parenting.”
Seventy countries or states “have legally banned corporal punishment in all settings.”
The researchers concluded that the data collected “show some positive indication that support for, and use of, spanking may be declining in Canada.”
While there is no Canadian law that makes spanking illegal, the Supreme Court has imposed limits, including age restrictions.
Section 43 of the Canadian Criminal Code states that “every schoolteacher, parent or person standing in the place of a parent is justified in using force by way of correction toward a pupil or child, as the case may be, who is under his care, if the force does not exceed what is reasonable under the circumstances.”
However, the study found that “a substantial proportion of experiences of spanking contravene the law, which only permits the use of ‘reasonable force’ by way of correction toward a child between the ages of two and 12 years, where the corrective force is minor (i.e., not leaving a mark or causing injury).”
The researchers say they believe their work shows “the need to repeal Sect. 43 of the Canadian Criminal Code to protect children and explicitly prohibit all forms of legalized violence against children.”
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