Survey examines South Africa's attitude towards corporal punishment

Abstract

This article summarises some of the findings of a survey on corporal punishment of children. This is the first South African national survey of attitudes towards the use of corporal punishment by caregivers and parents. It should be noted that this study formed part of a larger study of intimate violence that examined the prevalence of, and links between, partner violence and corporal punishment. The information was obtained from SASAS, a national household survey conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) every year that covers a wide range of social issues. This SASAS was conducted in late 2003. Two of the SASAS modules were the intimate partner violence study and the corporal punishment study.