Host: Japan Society of Physical Education, Health and Sport Sciences
Name : The 67th Conference of Japan Society of Physical Education, Health and Sport Sciences
Location : [in Japanese]
Date : August 24, 2016 - August 26, 2016
Pages 12
Corporal punishment of children has a long history in many countries and is typically regarded as a mean to teach children discipline and obedience to authorities. Since World War II a growing number of countries have banned corporal punishment. In Germany, laws prohibiting it in schools were released in Eastern Germany in 1949, in Western Germany in 1973. But only since the year 2000, corporal punishment in the family is also banned. An evaluation of the effects of this ban by Bussmann (2004) shows a significant decrease in societal acceptance and in occurrence of physical and psychological punishment behaviors of parents. Nevertheless, the picture is less clear when looking at a causal relationship between corporal punishment ban and occurrence of family violence in various countries (Zolozot & Puzia, 2010).
With regard to sport education and coaching, the ban of corporal punishment seems widely accepted (with possibly a number of unknown cases). Instead, since the beginning of this millennium, there is growing concern about sexual abuse in educational settings, including the sport context. Apart from sexual abuse being legally prohibited, it has been a thematic issue in several initiatives of the German Sports Confederation and its member organizations in order to prevent sexual abuse in sports clubs and coaching groups. These initiatives include a code of conduct, to be signed by coaches and other sport educators, and several individual and organizational preventive measures.
Bussmann, K.-D. (2004). Evaluating the subtle impact of a ban on corporal punishment of children in Germany. Child Abuse Review, 13, 292-311.
Zolozot, A.J. & Puzia, M. E. (2010). Bans against corporal punishment: A systematic review of the laws, changes in attitudes and behaviours. Child Abuse Review, 19, 229-247.