Public attitudes and New Zealand's child discipline law
Methodology
UMR Research obtained relevant information using quantitative methods in an omnibus telephone survey, conducted from 3 to 7 July 2008, at UMR Research’s national interview facility in Auckland. This telephone (omnibus) survey involved putting questions to a nationally representative sample (n = 750) of New Zealanders aged 18 years and older. UMR’s omnibus survey included several survey modules for different clients and therefore, was more cost-effective than a stand-alone survey because standard demographic data on age, region, gender, income, occupation and ethnicity could be asked at no additional cost.
Of this sample, 359 were male and 391 were female (with margins of error of 5.2 percent and 5.0 percent respectively). While it was a nationally representative sample of the general population, the Maori sample (n = 82) was slightly underrepresentative of the Maori population and the Pacifica sample more so (n = 35). The margin of error for a 50 percent figure at the ‘95 percent confidence level’ is ± 3.6 percent
Key Results
Forty-three percent of respondents in the independent omnibus survey supported the law while about one-third opposed it. The remainder were neutral.
The level of support against the use of physical discipline with children is also encouraging, with 37 percent clearly opposing use of physical discipline. Support for the use of physical discipline appears to be declining over time.
Awareness of the law change is high, although understanding of what the law means, is lower.
There are relatively high levels of support, at least in principle, for the concept that children should be entitled to the same protection from assault as adults.
Comment
Sustained efforts to engage support for positive parenting practices to manage and guide children’s behaviour are required, as are activities to improve understanding of, and support for, the law.