81% of parents admit to having resorted to at least one form of violence in 2023

Nearly half of parents do not recognize shouting, slapping the hand, cornering or depriving them of something as a form of violence. On the other hand, 70% of them believe that spanking, shoving, slapping or being locked in the dark are physical violence.

81% of parents admit to having used at least one form of violence to educate their child in 2023, according to the second barometer of the Children’s Foundation on the anchoring of ordinary educational violence (OVE) in family spheres and sports, produced by Ifop, and obtained by France Bleu on Thursday June 6.

A figure increasing compared to 2022 when it stood at 79%, even though parents say they are better informed about the practices encompassed by the term “ordinary educational violence”: 58% say they are well informed, i.e. +10 points per compared to 2022.

If more parents (up to 70%, + 6 points) recognize that physical violence (spanking, shoving, slapping, being locked in the dark) is part of VEO, almost a quarter of them have had resort to at least one of its forms of punishment on their children. On the other hand, fewer of them recognize that shouting at their child (53%, -7 points), slapping them on the hand (52%, -5 points), putting them in the corner (46%, -6 points ) or depriving him of something (-1 point) is a form of violence.

According to the barometer, the feeling that it is easy to educate a child without these punishments is decreasing, especially for the most violent actions: 71% of parents surveyed believe that it is easy not to slap or push your child. , compared to 75% in 2022. The barometer specifies that these behaviors exist “across all segments of the population”, “even if men and parents with three or more children under the age of 10 seem to use it more”.

Regarding violence in sports, more than a third of parents are aware of inappropriate behavior suffered by their children. The violence suffered by young people from their coach is verbal (19%), psychological (15%), physical (11%) or sexual (9%). 90% of parents talk about training with their children and two thirds do it regularly. Parents are therefore well aware of these abuses, 79% of them believe that revelations of sexual violence in sport are only “the visible face of more accepted and ambient violence”.

But 36% adhere to the idea that to help a child progress in his sport, he must be forced to exercise and made to feel a form of regular pressure and 33% that a child will only be able to reach a high level if he is supported by his trainer, this sometimes involving psychological, verbal or even physical violence (33%). There is no comparison to 2022 in the barometer.

Methodology : “Carried out by Ifop with a representative panel of 1,007 parents of children aged 0 to 10, taken from a national sample representative of the French population aged 18 and over. The representativeness of the national sample was ensured by the quota method (sex, age, profession of the person interviewed) after stratification by region and category of agglomeration. The interviews were carried out using a self-administered online questionnaire. from April 15 to 27, 2024.