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Given the scope and adverse clinical consequences of child abuse, assessment of salient etiological factors can lend critical insights needed for abuse prevention. Increasingly, dual-processing models have been applied to aggression, which postulate that parallel automatic and conscious processes can evoke aggressive behavior, implicating both affective and cognitive elements in both routes. Using two samples of mothers ( n = 110 and n = 195), the current investigation considered evidence of the reliability and convergent, concurrent, and construct validity of the new Automatic Parent Emotion Analog Response task relevant to parent–child aggression, contrasted with a self-reported conscious processing measure. Findings provide evidence that affective reactions of both anger and worry relate to child abuse risk and inclination to respond aggressively, and demonstrate how mothers’ automatic reactions relate to both perceived child misbehavior and child dangerous behavior. Current results lend psychometric support for automatic processing in parent–child aggression consistent with other dual-processing theories of aggression.

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is the leading professional organization for social work that established the Code of Ethics and sets the policy agenda for the profession. Guided by the Code of Ethics and the Grand Challenges for Social Work goal to “build healthy relationships to end violence,” the NASW Social Work Speaks policy compendium should reassert its statement against the physical punishment of children. This recommendation aligns with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and children’s right to protection from violence; the rigorous empirical research base, which demonstrates that physical punishment has detrimental consequences to child well-being; and similar policy statements issued by allied professional organizations. The NASW policies can advocate for ending violence against children by providing guidance on disciplinary practices that are based on principles of nonviolence and that respect children’s human rights. Practitioners can support caregivers through interventions that provide alternatives to physical punishment.

Gender inequality perpetuates women’s economic insecurity and a culture of violence. Parental distress caused by economic pressure may increase violence against children. High levels of gender inequality and interpersonal violence may contribute to higher levels of physical abuse. Using an ecological perspective, this study examines the association of country-level gender inequality and household-level parental physical abuse, and the moderating role of child gender in this association in low- and middle-income countries. We used data on over 420,000 households from the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and country-level indicators from the United Nations Development Program Human Development data. We employed multilevel logistic regression to examine the association between gender inequality with the log-odds of physical abuse after accounting for country- and individual-level covariates. In order to more fully explore our results, we calculated predicted probabilities of abuse for several scenarios. The results indicated that higher levels of gender inequality were associated with higher probabilities of physical abuse. This association was stronger for female children than for male children. The probabilities of abuse by child gender were indistinguishable, although rates of physical abuse converged as gender inequality increased, at a statistically marginal level. These findings indicate that macro-level interventions that reduce gender inequality are necessary to prevent and reduce child physical abuse.

Nearly one third of children under five in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) experience spanking. Studies from North America suggest that spanking is associated with heightened risk of physical abuse. However, the link between spanking and physical abuse in the international context remains understudied.To examine the association between caregivers' spanking and physical abuse of young children in LMICs, and to estimate the extent to which physical abuse might be reduced if spanking were eliminated.We used nationally representative data from 156,166 1- to 4-year-old children in 56 LMICs from the fourth and fifth rounds of UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys.A nationally weighted multilevel logistic regression model examined the association between spanking and physical abuse. We calculated predicted probabilities of physical abuse, which we present using natural frequencies.Spanking was associated with higher odds of physical abuse (OR = 5.74, p .001). The predicted probability of physical abuse decreased by 14% comparing children who were spanked (22%) and who were not spanked (8%). When our estimates were translated to a hypothetical sample of 100 children using a natural frequency approach, 32 children were spanked; of those, seven experienced physical abuse. The elimination of spanking would result in four fewer children who were exposed to physical abuse. In relation to the population of abused children, estimates suggest that physical abuse could reduce by up to 33% if spanking were eliminated.Results support the UN Sustainable Development Goals Target 16.2 that calls for eliminating all forms of violence against children. Child welfare advocates should discourage caregivers from using spanking, in order to prevent physical abuse.