Ethnic/Racial Differences in the Prevalence of Injurious Spanking and Other Child Physical Abuse in a National Survey of Adolescents

Abstract

Limited research has examined whether similar patterns in injurious spanking and other forms of child physical abuse (CPA) exist across specific ethnic/racial groups. The authors examined and compared differences in the lifetime prevalence of injurious spanking and CPA in two national samples of adolescents across ethnic/racial groups and over time. Participants were 4,023 youth (12—17 years) and 3,614 youth (12—17 years) who participated in the 1995 National Survey of Adolescents (NSA) and 2005 National Survey of Adolescents—Replication (NSA-R), respectively. Adolescents, who were identified through random digit dial procedures, completed a telephone interview assessment. Results indicated significant ethnic/racial variation across groups in reports of injurious spanking in the NSA and the NSA-R samples; however, significant differences were not observed within groups between the two samples over time. Ethnic/racial differences also were found between groups in reports of CPA in the NSA-R sample. Limitations and future directions of this research are discussed.