We invite you to read this recent article featuring our latest research on spanking in childhood in Canada, published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health.
📰✨ Read the article:
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/spanking-laws-in-canada
📊📄 Read the paper:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.17269/s41997-026-01190-1

🔎New research from our team! published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health:
"𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐚: 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬".

📊 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬:
• 𝟓𝟓.𝟔% of Canadian adults report a history of being spanked in childhood.
• 𝟐𝟐.𝟔% reported that the spanking left a mark or bruise, or caused lasting physical pain.
• 𝟏𝟓.𝟎% believed spanking is necessary to properly raise a child.
• 𝟐𝟖.𝟒% of parents/primary caregivers reported spanking their own child.
• Having a history of being spanked as a child was associated with increased odds of spanking one’s own child.
⚧ 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬:
• Women, compared to men, had increased odds of reporting a spanking history.
• However, women were less likely to believe spanking is necessary and less likely to spank their own child.
📅 𝐀𝐠𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬:
• Compared to younger adults, older age cohorts had higher odds of spanking history, suggesting that while spanking prevalence is still high in Canada, it may be declining across birth cohorts.
•However, 𝟒𝟖.𝟗% of those aged 18-27 still reported experiencing spanking in childhood.

We’re proud to share that Dr. Tracie Afifi as a 2025 Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS). 🎉
This honour recognizes her outstanding contributions to research on childhood adversity and resilience, and her commitment to promoting the health and well-being of children and families across Canada. 🌍💡

What does this study add to the existing knowledge?
✅ Novel findings are that compared to identifying as heterosexual, sexual identity of homosexual, gay, or lesbian; bisexual; and other identity were associated with an increased likelihood of child maltreatment history, along with an increased likelihood of many poor mental health and substance use outcomes.
✅ Notably, more significant models were found for depression and anxiety and fewer for at-risk cannabis and at-risk alcohol use among this sample of emerging adults.
✅ Trends suggest that the association between sexual identity and poor mental health and substance use outcomes may be worsened in some cases if the individual also has a child maltreatment history.
Full study 👇
https://rdcu.be/edT4C

Our CARe team presenting at ISPCAN 2024 congress in Uppsala 🇸🇪:

✅ Child abuse trends in Canada: Comparisons of 2012 and 2022 provincial and national prevalence estimates and examining differences by age cohort, sex, and sexual identity.
✅ National Spanking Trends in Canada Across Different Generations
✅ Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adolescents’ Subjective Well-being: Lessons learned from the
Youth Voices of the Well-being and Experiences Study
✅ Master Class: Writing, Reviewing and Editing for Journals in Child Abuse and Neglect. Dr. Tracie Afifi

👏 We are happy to announce that our project "Child Abuse, Sex, Gender Identity, Sexual Identity, Mental Health and Substance Use in Canada 🇨🇦 : A Nationally Representative Canadian Study" has been awarded 🏆 in the latest Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) project funding round.