Parental Physical Punishment of Young
Children and Emotional and Behavioural
Outcomes.
Dr Sonya Scott
sonyascott@nhs.net
Smacking children ban moves step
closer in Wales
Welsh assembly approves call to withdraw defence of 'legal
chastisement' that parents can currently use
A smacking ban will make criminals of
parents who desire only the best for their
children
Is it ever right to hit a child?
As the new BBC television series 'The Slap’ re-ignites the debate over
smacking, author Christopher Wakling recalls the highly charged day he
lost his temper with his son
Current Legal Position in Scotland
Adults are allowed to use physically punishment
as “reasonable chastisement” of children under
common law.
Blows to the head, shaking and using an
instrument to punish children is prohibited.
The Law cont.
• Within the last ten years two attempts to
change the law have failed
• Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill 2002
• Family Law (Scotland) Bill 2005
The Arguments for a Ban
1.Human Rights
2.Possible Harm
Limitations of Existing Evidence
• Cross-sectional
• Retrospective
• No baseline assessment of mental health
Study Aim
To determine whether there is an association
between main parental caregiver use of
smacking in the first two years of a child’s life
and the subsequent development of emotional
and behavioural problems.
Methods
•
•
•
•
Secondary analysis GUS
On-going prospective cohort: birth and child.
Birth cohort data used
Representative Sample Main caregivers and
their children.
Methods: Measuring Baseline
Behaviour
“When you have had concerns about your
child’s behaviour in the last year, from which of
the following have you sought help, information
or advice or have you not had any concerns?”
Methods: Sample Characteristics
•
•
•
•
1600 parent-child participants
White, mothers aged 25-44y
87% Living with their partners
42% in two most affluent SIMD quintiles.
Methods Measuring Exposure to
Smacking
“Which of the following discipline approaches
have you ever used with your child?”
Methods Measuring Outcome
Two measures:
• “How much of a problem has your child’s
behaviour been in the last 3 months”
• Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
Multivariable Analysis
• Child sex and age
• Parent sex and age
• Parent ethnicity, educational attainment and
mental health.
• Sibling number
• Family Transition
• SIMD quintile
Results 1
• 20% of children smacked
• 29% (95% CI 27-31) Problem behaviour age 46
months on parent assessment
• 7% (95% CI 6-8) Emotional and Behavioural
problems on SDQ
Results 2
Parental Assessment of Problem Behaviour
– OR 2.5 (95% CI 1.9-3.2)
– ORadj 2.4 (95% 1.8-3.2)
Emotional and Behavioural Problems on SDQ
score
– OR 2.5 ( 95% CI 1.7-3.7)
– ORadj 2.2 (95% 1.4-3.5)
Limitations
• Subjective Baseline Behaviour Measure
– Face validity
– Limited reliability
• Potential Misclassification bias
– Exposure: recall and social desirability bias
– Can’t exclude non-main caregiver smacking or other
physical punishment for never smacked
• Only main caregiver smacking
• Other Confounders
– Genetics
– Caregiver expectations
– Heterogeneity
Conclusion
•There is a strong positive association between
main parental caregiver smacking and EBPs
•The association is plausible
•The association is consistent
•There is some measure of temporality in this
study.
•Further work is needed to address limitations
of baseline behaviour measurement, exposure
definition, potential impact of genetics.
Implications
• Further work required
• ?PH supporting a ban
“I’ve a few times said, ‘Now, I’m going to smack
you,’ because that’s all I’ve got left and I really
don’t want to go down that road”
• Parenting Support Programmes
Any Questions?