• 32% parents believe same is necessary in parenting; 1/4 believe same is necessary in school
• 85% aware of the negative repercussions; only 15.8% aware of same leading to long-term learning difficulties 
• 1/2 used corporal punishment during the last 1-month pre-survey period, 1/2 use 1/week, 3.4% daily, 7.8% few times/week
• Strap: Majority employ hitting with a hand, beating with a stick/cane, throwing whatever is around, getting them to kneel, pulling the ear, scolding, threatening, ignoring 
• Common reasons are disobedience, stubbornness, refusing to do schoolwork, risky behaviours, watching TV frequently, fighting with siblings, lying to parents, stealing 
• Majority learnt corporal punishment from parents, school, TV/other social media, friends/relatives
• Active listening, rewarding good behaviours, offering choices, removing the child from certain settings, popular positive practices 

A total of 54% of parents use corporal punishment on primary school children even though only 32% believe that it is necessary in parenting and despite 85% being aware of the negative repercussions, with the age and level of education of the parents showing an association with the parents’ attitudes on the same, a study conducted in the Western Province found.

These findings were made in an original article on the ‘Beliefs, attitudes and practices on the corporal punishment of children among parents with primary school children in selected schools of the Piliyandala Education Zone, Western Province’ which was authored by P. Hewamalage (Senior Registrar in Paediatrics at the Pimbura-Agalawatta Base Hospital) and S. Ganesan (Consultant Paediatrician at the Colombo South Teaching Hospital, Kalubowila), and published in the Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health’s 54th volume’s third issue this month.

The United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child defines corporal punishment as “any punishment in which physical force is employed and is intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light” (the World Health Organisation’s ‘Corporal punishment and health’). Unfortunately, violent disciplinary methods are commonly used by parents in rearing children to punish them for their unwanted behaviours and to achieve the desirable outcome. Most of the time, such violent methods are used unintentionally, because of parents’ frustration, anger, and lack of knowledge (the UN Children’s Fund’s [UNICEF] ‘Survey on parents’ and caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes, practices and social norms associated with violence against children’). Nearly 400 million children worldwide under the age of five years experience violent discipline and 330 million of them are subjected to physical punishment (the UNICEF’s ‘Violent discipline – UNICEF data’). It is strictly associated with socio-emotional difficulties such as aggression and self-regulation problems and it affects cognitive capabilities in early life, impacting in the long run, educational achievements (J. Cuartas and B. Herbert’s ‘Ending corporal punishment in the early years of childhood: An essential right and need of every young child’).

In 1989, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child addressed all the Member States to abolish corporal punishment on children. The Global Initiative (GI) to End All Corporal Punishment of Children (EACPC) was launched in 2001 (C. Bower’s ‘Evaluation of the GIEACPC’). After the regional consultation on the UN study on violence against children in 2005, the Sri Lankan Government exhibited its commitment in forbidding corporal punishment in all settings, at the meeting of the South Asia forum in 2006. Since then, there have been several discussions, action plans and documents (the GIEACPC’s ‘Corporal punishment of children in Sri Lanka’). Recently, in April of last year, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the amendments to the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code to ban corporal punishment at all levels.

The American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) emphasised the importance of encouraging and assisting parents in using positive strategies other than spanking to manage undesired behaviours (the AAP’s Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health’s ‘Guidance for effective discipline’). Effective discipline consists of three essential elements: a healthy relationship between parents and children, the reinforcement of desired behaviours, and discouraging punishment to eliminate undesired behaviours. There is a robust association between corporal punishment and its detrimental short-term and long-term consequences on the victims. Despite all these findings, it remains a public concern in many parts of the world, including Sri Lanka. Therefore, it is timely to raise awareness about corporal punishment among parents and to establish healthy, effective childrearing practices.

Methodology

Hewamalage et al.’s study was designed as a cross-sectional, descriptive one. The study setting was the schools with Primary Grade classes in the Piliyandala Education Zone. The study population comprised parents of children from Primary classes (Grades One-Five) in selected schools of the Piliyandala Education Zone. Mothers or fathers of children in the selected Primary Grade classes who gave consent were included. Any other caregivers were excluded along with institutionalised children who were in the class but did not have a mother or a father to represent them. The Piliyandala Education Zone has three divisions comprising all four categories of schools (1AB, 1C, Type Two and Type Three). Schools were selected using random stratified sampling. Parents were recruited from selected classes from each Grade of One-Five from those selected schools using the convenient sampling method. A self-administered questionnaire was prepared in all three languages for data collection.

Results

Hewamalage et al.’s study involved 370 parents. The socio-demographic characteristics of the sample are as follows: gender (male 83/22.4% and female 287/77.6%); age (25 years and less [four/1.1%], 26-35 [30/8.1%], 36-45 [266/71.9%], 46-55 [62/16.8%], and 56 and older [eight/2.2%]); the highest level of education (secondary up to the General Certificate of Education [GCE] Ordinary Level [150/40.5%], up to GCE Advanced Level [A/L] and completed A/L [193/52.2%], and university and above [27/7.3%]); the average monthly income (over Rs. 150,000 [seven/1.9%], over Rs. 100,000-150,000 [25/6.8%], over Rs. 50,000-100,000 [191/52.2%], and Rs. 50,000 and less [143/39.1%]); employment (unemployed [124/33.5%], Government sector [26/7%], private sector [118/31.9%], self-employed [93/25.1%], and other [nine/2.4%]); civil status (married [365/98.6%], divorced/separated [two/0.5%], and widowed [three/0.8%]); and the number of children (one-three [308/83.2%], and four and more [62/16.8%]). All participants received secondary school education.

More than half believed that corporal punishment is not necessary in parenting as a method of disciplining the child (yes – 120/32.4%, no – 228/61.6%, and don't know – 22/5.9%). Only around a quarter believed that corporal punishment is necessary in the school setting (yes – 95/25.7%, no – 260/70.3%, and don't know – 152/4.1%).

Overall, the majority held favourable beliefs against the use of corporal punishment. More than three quarters did not believe that when children are beaten, they will not repeat the unwanted behaviours (favourable beliefs against corporal punishment – totally disagree/disagree – 78.9%, neither agree nor disagree – 9.7%, and unfavourable beliefs against corporal punishment – totally agree/agree – 11.4%). A similar percentage did not believe that if children are not spanked, they will grow spoiled (favourable beliefs against corporal punishment – totally disagree/disagree – 78.1%, neither agree nor disagree – 10.3%, and unfavourable beliefs against corporal punishment – totally agree/agree – 11.6%). However, a significant proportion (34.6%) believed that corporal punishment is not good but is sometimes inevitable (favourable beliefs against corporal punishment – totally disagree/disagree – 54.9%, neither agree nor disagree – 10.5%, and unfavourable beliefs against corporal punishment – totally agree/agree – 34.6%).

More than three quarters did not justify hitting a child if he/she skips school/classes/doesn't do homework (yes – 13%, no – 80.3%, and don't know – 6.8%) or breaks something (yes – 8.1%, no – 84.9%, and don’t know – 7%). More than half did not believe in hitting a child when he/she has bad grades at school (yes – 10.5%, no – 68.4%, and don’t know – 9.7%), hits or beats another child (yes – 16.2%, no – 69.7%, and don’t know – 14.1%), or talks back/against parents or other adults that they should respect (yes – 15.7%, no – 74.1%, and don’t know – 10.3%). 

A total of 43.5% declared that they would not use corporal punishment if they were in a good mood, in the same circumstances when otherwise they would have used it (yes – 129/34.9%, no – 161/43.5%, and don't know – 80/21.6%).

A clear majority (291/78.6%) would not allow any other adult to hit their child. Of the 79/21.4% who would allow other adults to hit their child, 57/72.2% would allow an adult from the family to hit their child and 25/31.2% would allow an adult from their community to hit their child.

A large majority had favourable attitudes against corporal punishment. Overall, over 70% either strongly disagreed or disagreed with the following: slapping/spanking is an effective method of child discipline (favourable attitude – 82.2%, neither agree nor disagree – 8.9%, and unfavourable attitude – 8.9%), children can’t learn to behave without being spanked/slapped (favourable attitude – 80.6%, neither agree nor disagree – 9.2%, and unfavourable attitude – 10.3%), hitting a girl is worse than slapping a boy (favourable attitude – 81%, neither agree nor disagree – 8.6%, and unfavourable attitude – 10.3%), a parent has the right to discipline their child in any way that they believe is right (favourable attitude – 73%, neither agree nor disagree – 9.5%, and unfavourable attitude – 17.5%), a parent who doesn’t punish their child when he/she misbehaves is not a good parent (favourable attitude – 80.3%, neither agree nor disagree – 9.5%, and unfavourable attitude – 10.3%), and since I was spanked when I was a child and I turned out to be okay, I should punish my children (favourable attitude – 83.5%, neither agree nor disagree – 7.3%, and unfavourable attitude – 9.2%).  

More than half (203/54.9%) used corporal punishment on their children during the last one-month period leading up to the survey. Half of them (103/50.7%) use corporal punishment on their children once a week. And of those who practised the same, seven/3.4% do so daily, 16/7.8% do so a few times a week, and 80/39.4% did so only once. A total of 167/45.1% did not practice the same.

The majority (230/62.1%) employ hitting with a hand as a means of corporal punishment. Beating with a stick and beating with a cane account for 10% each (the former 40/10.8% and the latter 37/10%). Some mention other methods of punishment such as throwing whatever is around (three/0.8%). getting them to kneel (14/3.7%), pulling the ear (32/8.6%), scolding, threatening, ignoring the child, etc.

Common reasons for corporal punishment are disobedience (98/26.4%) and stubbornness (78/21%), followed by refusing to do schoolwork (64/17.2%), risky behaviours (42/11.3%), watching television (TV) frequently (35/9.4%), fighting with siblings (34/9.1%), other (12/3.2%), lying to parents (nine/2.4%), and stealing (five/1.3%).

The majority learnt corporal punishment from their parents, accounting for 229/61.8%, followed by from school accounting for 146/39.4%, TV/other social media (140/37.8%), and friends/relatives (103/27.8%).

A total of 316/85.4% know about the negative consequences of corporal punishment (54/14.6% are not aware of the same). Aggressiveness was the commonest negative consequence mentioned by 226/71.5%. Only 50/15.8% are aware that corporal punishment leads to learning difficulties in the long-term. A few mentioned mental-health issues as the other negative consequences of corporal punishment, while problems in the parent-child relationship account for 210/66% and anti-social behaviour account for 96/30.3%.

Actively listening to the child and rewarding the child’s good behaviours are the popular practices among the participants, accounting for 61.6% each (the former and latter 228 each), followed by offering choices (70/18.9%) and removing the child from certain settings (56/15.1%).

There was no statistically significant association between the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants and their beliefs on the necessity of corporal punishment in parenting. However, parents’ beliefs on the necessity of corporal punishment in the school setting showed some association with the gender distribution and the number of children of the participants. Some association was observed between the age and the level of education of the participants with their attitudes on corporal punishment. No significant association was tracked between the socio-demographic characteristics and the parents’ use of corporal punishment during the one-month period leading up to the study.

Discussion

A total of 61% did not believe that corporal punishment is necessary in parenting. Nevertheless, 54% practised it during the period of the past one-month prior to the survey despite the fact that 85% are aware of its negative consequences. These findings demonstrate that the participants’ awareness of the negative consequences of corporal punishment, did not, per se, prevent them from employing it on their children. A fair proportion (34%) accepted that while corporal punishment is not good, it is sometimes inevitable. This partly explains why almost half practised corporal punishment when they believed that it is not necessary in parenting. The parents’ state of mind might also play a role in prompting them to physically punish their children. A fair proportion (43.5%) declared that they would not use corporal punishment if they are in a good mood. These findings suggest that there are multiple factors integrating and leading to the practice of corporal punishment. 

K.P.S. De Silva’s ‘Perceptions of Sri Lankan parents on using corporal punishment on children in the Districts of Colombo, Batticaloa, Galle and Polonnaruwa’ (2012) disclosed that 74% used corporal punishment. Compared to that study, the current study shows a slight reduction in the rate of practice of corporal punishment over more than a decade. This could be partly attributed to the fact that the majority know the detrimental effects of corporal punishment. The implementation of new legislation to ban corporal punishment might also have played a role. Hitting with the hand is the most popular practice among the participants, accounting for 62%. In contrast, only 31% practised hand hitting in De Silva’s study. Disobedience is the commonest (26%) situation in which the participants use corporal punishment. This figure was more or less the same (30%) in the study by De Silva.

A majority (61%) learnt corporal punishment from their parents. Nearly 40% learnt it from school. These findings are consistent with the study conducted by De Silva. This indicates that these practices are propagated across generations. Therefore, if necessary actions are taken to reduce the practice of corporal punishment in home and school settings, it will result in a significant reduction of the prevalence of corporal punishment among parents in the future.

Even though 85% know about the negative consequences of corporal punishment, only 15% identify learning difficulties as a detrimental effect. This clearly shows a significant lack of sound knowledge among parents about corporal punishment on their children. It is of paramount importance to carry out awareness programmes, so that the practice of corporal punishment can be halted. In Gfk Skopje’s ‘Survey on parents’ and caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes, practices and social norms associated with violence against children’, nearly three quarters of the respondents were able to identify at least one negative impact of corporal punishment.

The great majority (93%) practised at least one form of positive parenting strategy to discipline their children. According to the survey carried out by GfK Skopje, only 21% used exclusive positive parenting and non-violent methods. The findings of the current study demonstrate that our population practised corporal punishment as well as positive parenting strategies.

Now that the Cabinet has implemented legislation to ban corporal punishment at all levels, island-wide awareness programmes should be carried out to educate the parents, caregivers, and teachers. Such programmes should be conducted in the community and in schools. Media programmes must be conducted to raise awareness of the public regarding the detrimental effects of corporal punishment and to promote effective parenting strategies. Furthermore, social media can have a significant impact on promoting positive parenting by providing a platform for parents to connect with each other, share experiences and find support communities. Schools should have a safe, child-friendly environment where corporal punishment is strictly discouraged and prohibited. Finally, it is crucial to establish a proper system that allows victims to report cases of corporal punishment at any level. Continuous surveillance is also of prime importance.