More than half of Dominican children receive violent discipline in their homes

Santo Domingo.– Violent discipline continues to be present in Dominican households. The National Multi-Purpose Household Survey (ENHOGAR-MICS 2025) revealed that 54.9% of children and adolescents between the ages of 1 and 14 in the Dominican Republic were subjected to some method of violent discipline during the month prior to the study.

The report, prepared by the National Statistics Office (ONE), with technical support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Superintendence of Health and Labor Risks (SISALRIL), distinguishes between psychological violent discipline and physical punishment.

Violent discipline

The results indicate that 52.4% of children and adolescents were subjected to psychological aggression, such as shouting, insults, or humiliation, while 37.9% received some form of physical punishment. These data reflect that violent discipline remains a practice used in more than half of the country’s households.

Research also shows that 42.8% of minors experienced only non-violent discipline methods, which evidences that a significant portion of families resort to respectful parenting strategies to correct children’s behavior.

Violent discipline

Regarding the beliefs of adults responsible for childcare, the survey indicates that 12.1% consider it necessary to use physical punishment as part of upbringing, while the majority understand that there are other ways to educate and correct children’s behavior.

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Child discipline is one of the indicators included in the ENHOGAR-MICS to assess child well-being and protection, as well as to monitor the commitments made by the country regarding children’s rights and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this sense, the results on violent discipline serve as a reference for the design of public policies aimed at promoting safe family environments and respectful parenting practices.

The 2025 ENHOGAR-MICS was conducted on a probabilistic sample of 35,238 dwellings, from which an effective sample of 29,676 households was obtained, reaching a response rate of 98.6%. This makes it one of the main sources of statistical information for the formulation and evaluation of public policies in the Dominican Republic.