| The use of corporal punishment is still a normative form of discipline in the United States. Practices such as spanking and slapping children are not only accepted, but are generally believed to be highly effective by Americans. This is not the case in all nations in the world. At the present time, nine nations beginning with Sweden in 1979 have banned the use of corporal punishment of children by parents. One of these nations, Finland, banned the practice in 1984 and is therefore an interesting country to compare to the United States in terms of parenting practices. Unlike the United States, Finland has a vastly different culture, a largely heterogeneous population with 99% of its populations being ethnically Finnish, and a predominant religion, Evangelical-Lutheran. The aim of the present study was to determine the differences between Finland and the United States in terms of remembered experiences with corporal punishment, attitudes towards its use, and the potential it has for escalation into child abuse. To study the problem a questionnaire was designed to measure prior experiences with corporal punishment and physical abuse, and subsequent attitudes toward the use of corporal punishment. Data were collected from college students in four colleges and universities in the United States, and following translation of the questionnaire, two universities in Finland. The colleges and universities selected were chosen based on their geographic diversity in each respective nation and convenience to the researcher. Chi-square analyses and a two-way analysis of variance were used to make comparisons. The study found that fewer Finnish participants remembered receiving corporal punishment as children in the home, had less favorable attitudes towards its use, and were less often the victim of the corporal punishment escalating into child abuse. This study suggests the possibility that corporal punishment has for escalating into child abuse. Straus' cultural spillover theory and Bandura's social learning theory help to explain the results of the study. |
