New Zealand Medical Journal 120 (1267) 14 December 2007 : U2866

This article by academics and clinicians describes the punitive parenting practices of a group of New Zealand parents aged under 25 years, and examines the factors that put these parents at increased risk of severely physically punishing children. Data for the study was collected as part of the ongoing Christchurch Health and Development Study. In this research data was analysed from interviews and assessments with 155 parents who were living full-time with their children at the time of the interviews. The research found that three quarters of parents had physically punished a child and almost 12% had severely physically assaulted a child in the past year. Risks of inflicting severe punishment were greatest amongst parents from lower socio-economic status family backgrounds whose own parents were controlling and who had been responsible for the care of large numbers of children under conditions of socioeconomic and family functioning stress. The authors conclude that addressing physical punishment of children in New Zealand needs to go beyond legislation to further investment in parenting programmes, supported by evaluation of intervention strategies to determine what works best for whom.

nz