Face-to-face interviews were conducted with a stratified random sample of 319 subjects in three cities in India. The interviews assessed their attitudes toward child rearing and their expectations about child development. Reported attitudes were then correlated with the methods of conflict resolution that had been used with children in the past year. Of the subjects who participated in the study, 56.9 percent reported having used "acceptable" violence, and 41.9 percent reported they had engaged in "abusive" violence. Of the 319 subjects, 2.9 percent admitted to having used "extreme" violence toward their children. The correlations between parental attitudes and/or expectations and the use of various methods of conflict resolution did not occur as often as anticipated, suggesting that violence against children in India may well be the result of social sanction. The study thus shows that individual parental characteristics and attitudes toward child rearing may be less important in influencing abusive behaviors toward children than the societal approval of aggressive behavior as a viable means of socializing children. 4 tables and 64 references