Several recent studies reveal that more than 90 percent of parents have physically punished their children. Corporal punishment has strong normative support in the United States, even considering the increasing data suggesting that it may be harmful. Researchers have discovered a positive relationship between physical punishment and many undesirable outcomes, including aggression, behavioral deviance, drug abuse and criminal activity, low economic achievement, and depression and thoughts of suicide. These negative effects have been observed even at moderate levels of spanking. As of March 1990 only 20 States prohibited corporal punishment in schools. Well-educated professionals also tend to support the physical punishment of children. When controlling for socioeconomic status, black, Protestant, and southern mothers were more likely to have spanked their children in the past week than were white, Catholic, and nonsouthern mothers. Spanking was unrelated to the mother's educational level, but poor mothers were more likely to have hit their children and hit them more often than nonpoor mothers. However, some data indicate that attitudes may be changing. Media discussion so the appropriateness of spanking have increased, and child care experts' support for spanking has declined. 44 references