1. Introduction

Parental discipline includes the behaviour of parents aimed at avoiding and correcting inappropriate behaviour as well as achieving compliance and obedience from the child (Fauchier and Straus, 2007). When we talk about the physical punishment of minors, we are referring to a certain educational guideline of parenting that has to do with the strategies of parental discipline used by parents when it comes to educating their children by spanking, slaps in the face, etc.

Occasionally, these practices have been related to the characteristics of the families, so that those parents with fewer resources (low income, lower educational levels), seem to be more inclined to use severe physical punishment. In addition, those who are more likely to have been socialized in the use of violence were more predisposed to the use of harsh physical punishment with their children (Dietz, 2000, Fráchette and Romano, 2015, Juby, 2009).

The different parenting styles used with children have consequences for their behaviour (Baumrind, 1971, Musitu and García, 2004). Different investigations have tried to evaluate the effects of using different strategies on the behaviour of the minor, as well as on their psychosocial development (Gámez-Guadix et al., 2010a, Fergusson and Lynskey, 1997, Grogan-Kaylor, 2004, Torío, Peña and Inda, 2008). In general, it has been pointed out that more aversive strategies (for example, physical punishment or threats) are strongly related to numerous negative consequences, one of which is a greater risk of mistreatment and physical abuse of the child (Gershoff , 2002) or that the minor, in turn, whips or hits other children (Simons and Wurtele, 2010). Some authors also relate it to a decrease in the quality of parent-child relationships (Zolotor et al., 2011) and to the development of psychological adjustment problems (Landsford et al, 2014, Scott, Lewsey, Thompson and Wilson, 2013). : Smith, Springer and Barret, 2011).

In recent years, interest has been focused on knowing the circumstances that lead fathers and mothers to use physical punishment with their children. Often parents are ambivalent toward the use of physical punishment and often exhibit negative attitudes toward it, though they continue to use it despite not believing in its effectiveness (Bunting, Webb and Healy, 2010). Other more dynamic variables such as parental stress (Fráchette and Romano, 2015), and ethnic or cultural issues (Holden, Hawk, Smith, Singh and Ashraf, 2017, Khoury-Kassabri, Attar-Schwartz and Zur, 2014), are also important.

Hence the importance of influencing these practices in order to raise awareness among the population to the reasons that induce parents to use them, their risks, and possible alternative strategies to correct the behaviour of minors.

In this regard, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989) declares in article 19 that “States must adopt all legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child against all forms of physical or mental violence”. (Hodgkin and Newell, 2002).

Similarly, the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2006) emphasizes that:

“Addressing the acceptance or tolerance of widespread physical punishment of children and its elimination within the family and in schools and other institutions, it is not only an obligation of the Convention Member States. It is also a key strategy in reducing and preventing all forms of violence in society” (Committee on the Rights of the Child, United Nations, General Comment No. 8, 2006, paragraph 11).

Some studies point to a decline in the use of physical punishment in some countries such as Canada (Fráchette and Romano, 2015), although the whip or the slap is still common practice with young children (Zolotor et al., 2011). Without wishing to be exhaustive, more recent studies like those of Hecker, Hermenau, Isele and Elbert (2014) in Tanzania, and