BACKGROUND:
According to WHO (2025), an estimated 1.2 billion children aged 0–18 worldwide experience corporal punishment each year. In 2020, Japan enacted a legal ban on all corporal punishment of children, including that justified as “discipline.” However, reported cases of child abuse justified as “discipline” have continued to increase. This study aimed to explore current parents' perceptions of corporal punishment and related factors in Japan.

METHODS:
An online survey was conducted in February 2024, collecting responses from a total of 10,000 parents (5,000 mothers and 5,000 fathers) of children aged 0–10 years across all 47 prefectures in Japan. Multiple regression analyses were conducted separately for fathers and mothers. Acceptance of corporal punishment was used as the dependent variable. Independent variables included participants’ age, educational background, employment status, marital status, annual household income, parenting norms, societal expectations of parental roles, capacity to receive support, mental health, number of children in the household, the child’s age, and sex. If participants had multiple children, they were asked to answer questions based on their youngest child.

RESULTS:
Among the participants, 47.5% of fathers and 37.0% of mothers believed that corporal punishment may sometimes be necessary for child discipline if it is motivated by love. The factor most strongly associated with the belief that such corporal punishment is acceptable was society's expectations of parental roles, for both fathers (β=0.280, P<0.001) and mothers (β=0.180, P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS:
Nearly half of fathers and 40% of mothers accepted corporal punishment for disciplinary purposes, and they felt more strongly about society's expectations of parental roles. A tolerant society is desired where parents are not overly blamed for their children's behavior. This study was supported by JSPS, KAKENHI Grant Number JP22H03429 and JP23K24687.