RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Corporal punishment bans and physical fighting in adolescents: an ecological study of 88 countries
JF BMJ Open
JO BMJ Open
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP e021616
DO 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-021616
VO 8
IS 9
A1 Elgar, Frank J
A1 Donnelly, Peter D
A1 Michaelson, Valerie
A1 Gariépy, Geneviève
A1 Riehm, Kira E
A1 Walsh, Sophie D
A1 Pickett, William
YR 2018
UL http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/9/e021616.abstract
AB Objective To examine the association between corporal punishment bans and youth violence at an international level.Design Ecological study of low-income to high-income 88 countries.Setting School-based health surveys of students.Participants 403 604 adolescents.Interventions National corporal punishment bans.Primary outcome measure Age-standardised prevalence of frequent physical fighting (ie, 4+ episodes in the previous year) for male and female adolescents in each country.Results Frequent fighting was more common in males (9.9%, 95% CI 9.1% to 10.7%) than females (2.8%, 95% CI 2.5% to 3.1%) and varied widely between countries, from 0.9% (95% CI 0.8% to 0.9%) in Costa Rican females to 34.8% (95% CI 34.7 to 35.0) in Samoan males. Compared with 20 countries with no ban, the group of 30 countries with full bans (in schools and in the home) experienced 69% the rate of fighting in males and 42% in females. Thirty-eight countries with partial bans (in schools but not in the home) experienced less fighting in females only (56% the rate found in countries without bans).Conclusions Country prohibition of corporal punishment is associated with less youth violence. Whether bans precipitated changes in child discipline or reflected a social milieu that inhibits youth violence remains unclear due to the study design and data limitations. However, these results support the hypothesis that societies that prohibit the use of corporal punishment are less violent for youth to grow up in than societies that have not.