[Acceptability of physical punishment in child rearing by people who were victims of physical violence during childhood in Peru].

OBJECTIVES

This study evaluated the association between having been a victim of physical violence during childhood and the acceptability, in later life, towards the use of physical punishment in child rearing.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

A secondary analysis was conducted of a study on violence in 6,399 people over 14 years of age living in the cities of Lima, Callao, Maynas, Arequipa, Cusco, Trujillo and Huamanga. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to estimate statistical associations.

RESULTS

The acceptability of the use of physical punishment in child rearing is higher in people who were victims of physical abuse during childhood compared with non-victimized people (OR = 1.8; 95% CI: 1.5-2 1; p <0.001) after adjusting for potential confounders.

CONCLUSIONS

People exposed to physical violence during childhood are more likely to accept or justify violence in adulthood, which could help maintain this child rearing practice from one generation to the next. Initiatives aimed at preventing the use of physical punishment in child rearing should be implemented to reduce the tendency to reproduce the action of violence by victimized people.