Hitting Children: Trends & Risk Factors

We are learning about whether parents hit children more often during the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic and studying whether risk and protective factors for spanking and hitting children have changed over past decades. This study uses data from the NIH-funded Monitoring the Future (MTF) study.

This study builds on our previous work finding that spanking has decreased substantially in the past two decades, from 50% of parents reporting spanking a child in 1993 to just 35% in 2017. 

  • Featured on CNN, "Spanking has declined in America, study finds, but pediatricians worry about impact of pandemic"
  • Featured on US News, "Spanking on the Decline in American Homes"
Mother throws hands up and shouts at daughter curled up and covering her eyes