Public attitudes to physical punishment of children: baseline survey, 2018

The objective of this research was to establish a research baseline on public attitudes towards physical punishment of children including the proposed legislation; Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Bill.

Nine questions were asked of parents/guardians and non-parents/guardians in the November 2018 Beaufort Wales Omnibus survey which interviews a representative quota sample of 1,002 adults across Wales. Respondents were asked a series of questions about attitudes towards smacking, awareness of legislation around physical punishment of children and awareness and opinion of proposed changes to legislation.

Main findings

When asked whether they agree with the statement ‘it is sometimes necessary to smack a child’, 35% of respondents agreed and 49% disagreed.
Of those surveyed, 58% thought that the law did not allow parents to smack their children; 27% thought the law did allow parents to smack; and the remaining 15% reported being unsure.
Twenty eight percent of respondents reported being aware of proposed changes to the law around physical punishment of children at an unprompted level.
When given a description of the proposal and asked if they were aware, 17% said they were aware of the proposal with a further 17% aware but not sure about the details.
Of those surveyed, 38% reported that they supported the change, 31% were against it and 31% reported needing more information/don’t know.

Reports