Data from the 1975, 1985, 1992 and 1995
National Family Violence Surveys
Seventy percent of respondents of the 1985 survey believed that it is okay, and sometimes necessary, to slap a 12-year-old.
Twenty-six percent of respondents believed that slapping a spouse is normal.
Almost every American child has been hit by his or her parents.
Corporal punishment begins in infancy for 36 percent of American children. Ninety-four percent of children have been slapped, spanked, hit or otherwise physically punished by ages 3 to 4. The incidence declines after that.
About a quarter of American children in their teens (ages 15 to 17) still experience some sort of corporal punishment.
The frequency, severity and duration of attacks on children vary greatly from family to family.
Boys are hit by their parents more frequently than girls are.
Abuse can be generationally transmitted--men who beat their wives are more likely to have witnessed and experienced abuse as children.
A large proportion of cases of elderly abuse involves the spouse, rather than an adult child or other caregiver.
Each year, about 15 percent of American couples experience one or more acts of physical violence. Over the course of a marriage, the figure is about one-third. Wife-abuse rates are higher in states where the status of women is low. Low status (indicated by the absence of women in positions of political and economic authority) contributes to a climate where abuse is tolerated.
Child abuse occurs at all social levels, but it is more common in poorer families. The stresses of poverty, unemployment and economic discrimination contribute to higher rates of violence.
