Fathers who were spanked¹ as children are less likely to spank² their own children than mothers who were spanked while young, according to a US study.

Researchers from Ohio State University set out to see if 1990s parents followed the practices of their own mothers but found parents today were showing a lot more affection to their children, reading to them more and spanking³ them less.

"We were surprised that mothers seem to learn a lot about the parenting role from their own mothers, but fathers don't follow their mothers as much," said researcher Jonathan Vespa in a statement.

The study of 1,133 young adult parents found significant generational changes in parenting practices.

Overall, there was a large generational shift in which the second generation of parents was much less likely to spank than their own parents.

Second generation mothers who were spanked at least once a week were found to be nearly half as more likely to spank their own children compared to mothers who weren't spanked.

Fathers spanked as children were less likely to spank their own children.

The study found only 28 percent of the second generation of fathers reported spanking their children compared to 43 percent of mothers.

"A little spanking of boys seems to deter⁴ (fathers) from spanking their own children later in life," said Vespa.

"The evidence suggests that mothers are more the disciplinarians in the family than fathers are today."

In general, the amount of affection that parents show their children has increased significantly over the generations.

Sixty percent of fathers and 73 percent of mothers in the second generation reported showing their children physical affection and praising them within the last week compared to only 40 percent of their parents openly showing affection weekly.

Reading to children had also increased markedly. Nearly three times more mothers in the second generation reported reading to their children daily compared to their own parents.

美国一项最新研究表明，小时候挨过打的爸爸更舍不得打自己的孩子，而有此遭遇的妈妈打孩子可能性更大。

俄亥俄州立大学的研究人员对上世纪90年代的家长是否会效仿他们自己的妈妈展开了调查，但结果表明，如今父母们对孩子更加疼爱，更爱给他们读故事，也更少打他们。

研究人员乔纳森•韦斯帕在声明中称：“看起来妈妈从自己的母亲那里学到了很多育儿经，而爸爸却不跟自己的母亲学那么多，我们对此很惊讶。”

这项研究共对1133位年轻的父母进行了调查，结果表明一代一代的育儿方式有很大差别。

总体上看，与自己的父母相比，第二代父母更不爱打孩子，两代人在此问题上的观念有很大转变。

调查结果还表明，与没挨过打的母亲相比，小时候至少每周被打一次的第二代母亲打孩子的几率要多一半。

但小时候挨过打的父亲却更不会打孩子。

研究发现，仅有28%的第二代父亲打过孩子，而在母亲中该比例为43%。

韦斯帕说：“挨过几次打的男孩长大后更不会打自己的孩子。”

“数据表明，在当今家庭中，教训孩子更多的是母亲而不是父亲。”

总体来看，如今的父母对孩子的疼爱比前几代人超出很多。

在第二代父母中，有60%的父亲和73%的母亲在一周之内爱抚并称赞过孩子，而第一代父母中仅有40%每周公开向孩子表达爱意。

给孩子读故事的比例也有大幅提高。与第一代父母相比，第二代母亲每天给孩子读故事的比例要多近3倍。

vocabulary:

spank：to strike (a person, usually a child) with the open hand, a slipper⁵, etc., esp. on the buttocks, as in punishment.（打屁股）