Childhood Adversities and Adult Use of Potentially Injurious Physical Discipline in Japan

This study examined the intergenerational continuity of potentially injurious physical discipline of children in a community sample from Japan and the confounding effects of childhood adversities on the continuity. Using the data from the World Mental Health Japan Survey (n = 1186), we found that experience of physical discipline as children was significantly associated with the use of physical discipline as parents independent of other childhood adversities. This association was also independent of the respondents’ mental disorders and household income. No significant gender differences were found in the associations between childhood physical discipline and adult perpetration. The current study on Japan provided empirical support consistent with results found in other countries regarding the intergenerational transmission of child physical abuse.