Fathers who were spanked as children are less likely to spank 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 spanking 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 deter （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.

    美國一項最新研究表明，小時候挨過打的爸爸更舍不得打自己的孩子，而有此遭遇的媽媽打孩子可能性更大。

    俄亥俄州立大學的研究人員對上世紀90年代的家長是否會效仿他們自己的媽媽展開了調查，但結果表明，如今父母們對孩子更加疼愛，更愛給他們讀故事，也更少打他們。

    研究人員喬納森？韋斯帕在聲明中稱："看起來媽媽從自己的母親那里學到了很多育兒經，而爸爸卻不跟自己的母親學那么多，我們對此很驚訝。"

    這項研究共對1133位年輕的父母進行了調查，結果表明一代一代的育兒方式有很大差別。

    總體上看，與自己的父母相比，第二代父母更不愛打孩子，兩代人在此問題上的觀念有很大轉變。

    調查結果還表明，與沒挨過打的母親相比，小時候至少每周被打一次的第二代母親打孩子的幾率要多一半。

    但小時候挨過打的父親卻更不會打孩子。

    研究發現，僅有28%的第二代父親打過孩子，而在母親中該比例為43%.

    韋斯帕說："挨過幾次打的男孩長大后更不會打自己的孩子。"

    "數據表明，在當今家庭中，教訓孩子更多的是母親而不是父親。"

    總體來看，如今的父母對孩子的疼愛比前幾代人超出很多。

    在第二代父母中，有60%的父親和73%的母親在一周之內愛撫并稱贊過孩子，而第一代父母中僅有40%每周公開向孩子表達愛意。

    給孩子讀故事的比例也有大幅提高。與第一代父母相比，第二代母親每天給孩子讀故事的比例要多近3倍。