Psychologists and spanking

Fifty‐nine practicing psychologists from Northwestern Pennsylvania responded to a 21 item questionnaire concerning attitudes and practices related to the spanking of children. It was found that the majority of the respondents spank their own children, felt that children need to be spanked sometimes, and have no regrets about spanking their own children. About one‐half of those questioned felt that school personnel should have the option to spank children in school. Attitudes toward spanking were related to the psychologists' contact with parents and present employment, but were unrelated to the psychologists age, parenting status, education, or sex. Implications for graduate school training in child psychology were discussed.