Preventing physical child abuse by legal punishment and neighbor help

How helpful legal punishment and neighbor help are in preventing parents’ physical child abuse in the real-life setting has been uncertain and suspicious. The question is of concern considering prevailing advocacy for preventing child abuse in the community. To address this question, the study examines the preventive effects with a survey of 1956 high school students in the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai. Results reveal the significant preventive effects of legal punishment and neighbor help on physical abuse by the father and mother respectively. In addition, legal punishment on the mother tended to reduce the father's physical abuse in the presence of neighbor help. These results support ecological theory, which posits the joint contribution of complementary resources obtained from different sources. The results imply the merit of orchestrating support from parents, neighbors, and legal authorities for preventing child abuse.