The Agreement over Spanking

Children as Punishment by
Household and Race.
Jonathan Benavides
Multidisciplinary Studies Project
University of Texas at San Antonio

Background and Research Question

The concept is that spanking is an

agreeable form of punishment on
children regardless of the household
type.
If filtering through racial households,
would that affect the outcome of
agreement?

If asked, regardless of intent, would

adults of various household types
agree to favoring spanking a child as
punishment as opposed to not
spanking? Also, would the factor of
race, both with and without children,
skew the view of spanking across the
board?

Research Overview

Hypothesis: I believe that regardless of the type

of household or race of the adult, they would
favor spanking over not spanking as a form of
punishment on children.
The design of the research was developed
around three variables: Spanking, Household
Type, and Race.

Research Design

Spanking

Household Type

Strongly Agree

Unsure with children

Agree

Non-family with children

Disagree

Cohab couple with children

Strongly Disagree

Other family with children

Married couple with children

Unsure no children

Non-family no children

Race

White

Cohab couple no children

Black

Single adult

American Indian

Other family no children

Asiatic/Oriental

Single parent

Other/Mix

Married couple no children

Findings (1 of 3)
Favoring Spanking by Household Type
UNSURE W CHILDREN

25%

NON-FAMILY W CHILDREN
COHAB COUPLE W CHILDREN

Types of Households

OTHER FAMILY W CHILDREN

MARRIED COUPLE W CHILDREN
UNSURE, NO CHILDREN
NON-FAMILY NO CHILDREN

54%

36%

48%

26%

27%
22%

6%

16%

8%

49%

19%

7%

45%

22%

6%

45%

22%

COHAB COUPLE NO CHILDREN

26%

49%

SINGLE ADULT

27%

46%

SINGLE PARENT
MARRIED COUPLE NO CHILDREN
0%

32%

10%

30%

Total Percent

40%

50%

8%

17%
19%

48%
20%

7%

19%

44%

28%

12%
19%

45%

30%

8%

20%

44%

25%

4%

8%

49%

32%

OTHER FAM. NO CHILDREN

17%

7%

18%
60%

70%

80%

6%

90%

6%
100%

STRONGLY D
DISAGREE
AGREE
STRONGLY A

Results

When comparing Spanking with Household Type, the results are as followed. 21,634 Surveyed.

Strongly Agree Average: 28%

Agree Average: 47.17%
Disagree Average: 18%
Strongly Disagree Average: 7.08%
General Agreement Average: 75.17%
General Disagreement Average: 25.08%

Findings (2 of 3)
Race by Spanking
100%

7%

4%

11%

90%
80%

3%

11%

10%

18%
20%
25%

21%

Percent of Agreement

70%
45%

60%

47%
50%

48%
42%

40%

45%

30%
41%

20%
10%

31%

25%

22%

24%

ASIATIC, ORIENTAL

OTHER, MIX

0%
WHITE

BLACK

AMERICAN INDIAN
Race

STRONGLY D
DISAGREE
AGREE
STRONGLY A

Results

When comparing Race with Spanking, the results are as followed.

21,279 Surveyed.

Strongly Agree Average: 28.6%

Agree Average: 45.4%
Disagree Average: 19%
Strongly Disagree Average: 7%
General Agreement Average: 74%
General Disagreement Average: 26%

Findings (3 of 3)
Race by Household Type
100%

1%
0%
1%
1%

90%
80%

Percent per Household

70%

27%

1%
2%
2%

2%
0%
2%
6%

1%
0%
1%

50%
40%

27%

1%
1%
2%
19%

4%
5%

7%
4%

30%
16%

35%

29%

2%
3%
2%

3%
3%
4%

19%

18%

4%
3%

5%

31%

60%
24%

2%
0%
3%
3%

10%

18%
2%
1%
2%

1%
0%
1%
2%

9%

10%

20%
31%
10%

29%
16%

20%

22%

0%
WHITE

BLACK

AMER INDIA
Race

ASIATIC, O

OTHER, MIX

UNSURE W CHILDREN
NON-FAMILY
COHAB COUPLE W CHILDREN
OTHER FAMILY W CHILDREN
MARRIED COUPLE W CHILDREN
UNSURE, NO CHILDREN
NON-FAMILY NO CHILDREN
COHAB COUPLE NO CHILDREN
SINGLE ADU
OTHER FAMILY NO CHILDREN
SINGLE PARENT
MARRIED COUPLE NO CHILDREN

Results

When comparing Race by Household Type, the results are as followed.

49,945 Surveyed.

-By Average Race-

Unsure with children: 1.4%

Non-family with children: 0%

Cohab couple with children: 1.6%

Other family with children: 4.4%

Married couple with children: 28%

Unsure no children: 1.8%

Non-family no children: 2%

Cohab couple no children: 2.4%

Single adult: 21.4%

Other family no children: 4.8%

Single parent: 8.6%

Married couple no children: 23.6%

Conclusion

Based on the data from the three graphs using three variables (Race, Spanking, Household
Type) I believe that the data supports my hypothesis because in Findings 1 it's shown that of
the surveyors generally agreed to spanking as an acceptable means of punishment, although it
was also shown that approximately 65% of surveyors did not have children. Findings 2 shows a
similar result as of the surveyors generally agreed to spanking as well. In Findings 3 there
was the 56%/44% split of no children to having children in regards to race.
If one was to ask a random adult (child-bearing age) about this in public, based on the
hypothesis that the general consensus would agree to spanking a child as punishment, I believe
that there will be a 75% chance average (Findings 1) that they will agree to the hypothesis
(Findings 1). The possible factors that may play a role is the fact the person may or may not
have children of their own, around 50% chance, with 6% deviance (Findings 3) and 65% without
children, 35% with children(Findings 1), the odds are favorable in the fact the surveyors may not
have children. Race may not play a significant factor, as no extreme cases of deviance were
shown on the graphs that were consistent throughout, yet race may still play a role in more
specific cases zooming in on just families with children, or just single parents.

Next Steps

In the future I would definitely look at other variables other

than Race, such as Income Level or Geographic Region in
order to get a better idea on how it would affect the rates of
agreement regarding spanking children as punishment.
Another route to look at, when thinking about these
statistics, is whether or not spanking leads to the child
growing up proper, by proper meaning avoiding crime and
abiding by the law. Would early spanking lead to a
decrease in crime rates in the future, or rather would it fuel
crime rates through possible poor parenting?