A major nationwide study has traced the high level of child beating in U.S. to a widespread acceptance among Americans of the use of physical force as a legitimate procedure in child rearing [Waltham]. This conclusion was reached by Dr. David G. Gil of Brandeis University after an analysis of 13,000 child beating reports in all 50 States. It conflicts with earlier studies, which have generally attributed the abuse to the mental illness of the beater. “The context of child rearing does not exclude the use of physical force, towards children by parents and others responsible for their socialisation,” Dr. Gil said. “American culture encourages in subtle and at times not so subtle ways, the use of ‘a certain measure’ of physical force in rearing children in order to modify their inherently non-social inclinations.” But, however bad child beating may be, Dr. Gil said, it constituted only a minor social problem in comparison with what he calls the “collective societal abuse” of the offspring of the poor. “Millions of children are living and growing up under circumstances of severe social and economic deprivation which tend to inhibit the fullest possible development of their innate capacities,” he said citing poor nutrition, poor medical and dental care and poor education.
