Parents: Discipline, punishment and child abuse. A four decade study of child rearing attitudes and practices

Abstract

Child abuse has been very much in the news recently. Each time a child dies because of it, there is much publicity, much media soul-searching, numerous pronouncements from spokespeople but there is little change. Parental use of physical punishment and child abuse are inextricably linked, and the only sure and certain way to save children from abuse is to prevent parents from striking their children (Straus 2000).