Spanking Hits Home More in U.S. Than Sweden, Study Says

Running afoul of mom or dad is twice as likely to result in a spanking in the United States as it is in Sweden, researchers say.

But no difference was found in the incidence of abusive violence toward children by parents in the two countries.

The joint study was conducted by Richard J. Gelles, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Rhode Island, and Ake Edfelt, education professor at the University of Stockholm.

In interviews with 1,046 families in the United States in 1976, 58% of parents reported spanking, pushing or grabbing their children in the last year. In a survey of 1,005 Swedish families in 1980, 27% of parents reported doing so.

About 4% in each country reported an incidence of acts likely to cause injury, such as biting, kicking and stabbing.

“The capacity to be enraged at that child is universal; it knows no boundaries,” Gelles said.

He attributed some of the difference to a 1979 Swedish law that prohibits spanking children. The law does not carry a penalty but helps “eliminate the mind-set that says parents can only discipline kids by spanking them,” he said.