Among the participants, 43.3 percent indicated that beating was an acceptable form of discipline. Abusive childhood experiences were widely found among study parents. These individuals were more likely to support physical disciplinary practices. Parents with one child were more likely to accept abusive practices as discipline compared with parents having two children. Life-threatening physical discipline and discipline likely to cause severe physical injury were considered unacceptable by study participants. Still, among residents and medical students, such severe discipline was generally not considered reportable to the authorities. These findings show the importance of establishing education programs on acceptable child disciplinary practices for parents, medical professionals, and medical students. This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Ankara University School of Medicine, Department of Social Pediatrics in 2002. Study participants consisted of 65 parents of children who came to the Department of Social Pediatrics for well-child visits, 39 Ankara University pediatric residents, and 106 Ankara University medical students. Participants completed a questionnaire adapted from Morris and Johnson's questionnaire, the Survey of Standards of Discipline. 3 tables, 2 figures, and 27 references