Equally Protected?
Topic: Child protection, Corporate parenting, Health and Wellbeing, Local authority, Looked after at home, Physical abuse
Author: Dr Anja Heilmann, Prof. Yvonne Kelly, Prof. Richard G Watt
This research project was commissioned by NSPCC Scotland, Children 1st, Barnardo’s Scotland and the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, with the aim of updating the findings of a previous review on physical punishment published in Northern Ireland in 2008.
The current review summarises the evidence that has become available in the years since the NI Review, focusing on the following three research questions:
1. What are the prevalence of / attitudes towards different types of parental physical punishment in
the UK and other OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries? In
particular,
a. What are the trends over time?
b. What evidence is there of changes in prevalence / attitudes in countries which have made
physical punishment illegal?
2. What are the outcomes of physical punishment for child health and development, and later-life
health and wellbeing?
3. Is parental use of physical punishment related to an increased risk of child maltreatment?