Corporal Punishment and Physical Abuse: Population-based Trends for Three-to- 11-year-old Children in the United States

C orporal punishment is increasingly regarded as an act of violence against children. Corporal punishment includes any use of physical punishment against a child in response to misbehaviour. This most commonly includes spanking, smacking and slapping, but also includes the use of an object such as a rod or stick, hair pulling and ear twisting. A growing body of research has focused on discipline and the adverse effects of corporal punishment (Berlin et al., 2009; Lansford et al., 2009). The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child asserts that States take ‘all appropriate legislative, administrative, social, and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence . . .’ (UNICEF, 1989; Article 19, Center for Effective Discipline, 2009). The Committee on the Rights of the Child (2006), in General Comment Number 8, has further clarifi ed that: