But their study of reports to a child abuse hotline that included broken bones, burns and other confirmed abuse found otherwise. An increase only occurred on Saturdays after a report-card Friday. Though overall rates were small, there were almost four times more cases on those Saturdays than on other Saturdays. No apparent connection between report cards and abuse was found on other days of the week.
That punishment may become abusive when kids don’t have school the next day and parents think injuries might be more likely to go unnoticed, the researchers said, noting that teachers are required to report suspected child abuse. Or, it could be that severe punishment is less likely on weekdays when parents are too busy to focus on report cards, Bright said,
But she acknowledged those theories are speculation and that the findings aren’t proof.
The study was published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics.
The researchers reviewed calls to a Florida child abuse hotline and school report card release dates in most of Florida’s 67 counties during the 2015-2016 academic year. Nearly 2,000 cases of physical abuse in kids aged 5 to 11, confirmed by child welfare authorities, were included.
There was an average of slightly more than 0.6 cases of abuse per 100,000 children on Saturdays after a report-card Friday compared with slightly less than 0.2 cases per 100,000 children on other Saturdays. The average was less than one per day because so many days were included in the analysis. But in a state like Florida, with a school-age population of just over 3 million kids, this could amount to 19 cases of report card-related abuse compared to 5 on other Saturdays, the researchers said.
Dr. Robert Sege, a Boston pediatrician and Tufts University professor of medicine, said bad grades should be a time for parents to find out what’s causing their childrens’ struggles. “There’s no place for corporal punishment for school failure because it doesn’t work and misses the point.”
Sege is lead author of an American Academy of Pediatrics policy update released last month that recommends against corporal punishment and spanking.
An editorial published with study said the United States deserves a C-minus “for effective discipline strategies.”
Changing a report card release day may reduce some abuse, the editorial said, “but it will not solve the larger issue: It is still socially acceptable to hit a child to correct their behavior.”
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Follow AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner at @LindseyTanner. Her work can be found here .
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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