Findings suggest that those who believe in the necessity of using corporal punishment as a parenting practice perceive that child physical abuse is less widespread in society. Results indicate that 56.3 percent of the Spanish adult population believes that it is necessary to use corporal punishment (spanking or slapping) with children. The results confirm the hypothesis that those who support corporal punishment as a parenting practice also perceive that child physical abuse within Spanish families is less frequent when compared to those who believe that corporal punishment should never be used by parents. This finding suggests an association between beliefs about what is appropriate in child rearing practices and public perceptions of child physical abuse. A possible explanation for this finding is that the label "child physical abuse" appears to be narrower for those who considered hitting children necessary in child rearing. For these respondents the label "child physical abuse" would involve more extreme cases, not including less serious forms of maltreatment. Respondents who believe that children should never be hit would have a wider view of what constitutes physical abuse which would include a larger number of parental behaviors. Data were collected in Spain using a national probability sample. Table and references