A contribution to the debate on the policy of sanctioning corporal punishment of children in Serbia: Attitude inconsistency
The policy of introducing a prohibition on corporal punishment of children (CPC) into legal frameworks currently needs unanimous support among social actors in Serbia. This may reflect the instability and inconsistency of collective and individual attitudes toward CPC, which are in the process of ch...
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Institute for Political Studies, Belgrade
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Srpska Politička Misao |
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| Online Access: | https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0354-5989/2025/0354-59892501111S.pdf |
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| author | Stajkić Bojana Hrnčić Jasna Blagojević Milena |
| author_facet | Stajkić Bojana Hrnčić Jasna Blagojević Milena |
| author_sort | Stajkić Bojana |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The policy of introducing a prohibition on corporal punishment of children (CPC) into legal frameworks currently needs unanimous support among social actors in Serbia. This may reflect the instability and inconsistency of collective and individual attitudes toward CPC, which are in the process of changing. The subject of this research is the attitude toward CPC from the standpoint of social change theories and stages of the attitude change process. The aim was to examine the consistency of this attitude across different levels of generality and situational contexts to determine its stability. A quantitative study was conducted among 104 respondents. Data were collected through an online questionnaire designed for the research. The findings revealed that attitude toward CPC depends on situational context differences and the context's specificity level. For instance, while 79.8% of respondents hold a negative general attitude toward CPC, 54.8% believe that parents should legally be allowed to slap a child on the buttocks with an open hand when the child is disobedient. When presented with five different situations involving specific child misbehavior, only 1.9% to 6.7% of respondents approved of a parent's reaction involving a mild slap on the buttocks without further explanation, depending on the situation. Conversely, support for this reaction increased to between 7.7% and 31.7% if accompanied by an explanation of why the child's behaviour was inappropriate. The results of the inconsistency of attitudes toward CPC are discussed in light of the significance of the level of abstraction and situational context. The recommended approach advocates for a policy that respects the particularities of Serbian society by formulating legal provisions on CPC as precisely as possible. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b62fb870706f4f4cb535a8557eb4696c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0354-5989 3042-2612 |
| language | deu |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Institute for Political Studies, Belgrade |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Srpska Politička Misao |
| spelling | doaj-art-b62fb870706f4f4cb535a8557eb4696c2025-02-05T13:27:17ZdeuInstitute for Political Studies, BelgradeSrpska Politička Misao0354-59893042-26122025-01-0189111113610.5937/spm89-538600354-59892501111SA contribution to the debate on the policy of sanctioning corporal punishment of children in Serbia: Attitude inconsistencyStajkić Bojana0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4023-0797Hrnčić Jasna1https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4640-8471Blagojević Milena2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2574-9291University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy, Belgrade, SerbiaUniversity of Belgrade, Faculty of Political Sciences, Belgrade, SerbiaNon-Governmental Organization ADRA, Belgrade, SerbiaThe policy of introducing a prohibition on corporal punishment of children (CPC) into legal frameworks currently needs unanimous support among social actors in Serbia. This may reflect the instability and inconsistency of collective and individual attitudes toward CPC, which are in the process of changing. The subject of this research is the attitude toward CPC from the standpoint of social change theories and stages of the attitude change process. The aim was to examine the consistency of this attitude across different levels of generality and situational contexts to determine its stability. A quantitative study was conducted among 104 respondents. Data were collected through an online questionnaire designed for the research. The findings revealed that attitude toward CPC depends on situational context differences and the context's specificity level. For instance, while 79.8% of respondents hold a negative general attitude toward CPC, 54.8% believe that parents should legally be allowed to slap a child on the buttocks with an open hand when the child is disobedient. When presented with five different situations involving specific child misbehavior, only 1.9% to 6.7% of respondents approved of a parent's reaction involving a mild slap on the buttocks without further explanation, depending on the situation. Conversely, support for this reaction increased to between 7.7% and 31.7% if accompanied by an explanation of why the child's behaviour was inappropriate. The results of the inconsistency of attitudes toward CPC are discussed in light of the significance of the level of abstraction and situational context. The recommended approach advocates for a policy that respects the particularities of Serbian society by formulating legal provisions on CPC as precisely as possible.https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0354-5989/2025/0354-59892501111S.pdfcorporal punishment prohibition policychildrenupbringingdisciplineattitude changelaw |
| spellingShingle | Stajkić Bojana Hrnčić Jasna Blagojević Milena A contribution to the debate on the policy of sanctioning corporal punishment of children in Serbia: Attitude inconsistency Srpska Politička Misao corporal punishment prohibition policy children upbringing discipline attitude change law |
| title | A contribution to the debate on the policy of sanctioning corporal punishment of children in Serbia: Attitude inconsistency |
| title_full | A contribution to the debate on the policy of sanctioning corporal punishment of children in Serbia: Attitude inconsistency |
| title_fullStr | A contribution to the debate on the policy of sanctioning corporal punishment of children in Serbia: Attitude inconsistency |
| title_full_unstemmed | A contribution to the debate on the policy of sanctioning corporal punishment of children in Serbia: Attitude inconsistency |
| title_short | A contribution to the debate on the policy of sanctioning corporal punishment of children in Serbia: Attitude inconsistency |
| title_sort | contribution to the debate on the policy of sanctioning corporal punishment of children in serbia attitude inconsistency |
| topic | corporal punishment prohibition policy children upbringing discipline attitude change law |
| url | https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0354-5989/2025/0354-59892501111S.pdf |
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