Imparting and Receiving Violence at Home in Uruguay

The use of moderate physical violence while raising children is an extended practice, accepted as a disciplinary measure. Nevertheless, there is evidence that these practices during childhood produce negative effects in different areas of adult life. This motivates the analysis of the intergenerational transmission of this conduct. We used the survey Encuesta de Situaciones Familiares carried out in 2007 funded by the Research and Innovation National Agency in Uruguay (ANII) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The main purpose of the ESF was to gather information about marriage and divorce, work, fertility, work, child-rearing and children's welfare outcomes, including education, health, and psycho-social development. In our study for the Uruguayan case, we find that for women, the experience of physical punishment during childhood increases the probability of having similar attitudes when raising one's children. This probability increases when the woman has a positive attitude towards punishment as a disciplinary measure. We do not find similar effects of past experiences in the case of men.