Parents would do well to refrain from using hand or rod to
discipline children, according to an analysis of research on
spanking and other forms of corporal punishment. The study found
correlations, but no direct link, between physical discipline and 11 negative behaviors, including increased aggression and delinquent
behavior.
The strongest associations with corporal punishment were increased
risk of becoming an abuse victim and immediate compliance with parental
demands -- the only behavior that could be considered a "positive" result
of corporal punishment. "That these disparate constructs (abuse
and compliance) show the strongest links to corporal punishment
underlines the controversy over this practice," states Elizabeth Thompson
Gershoff, Ph.D., author of the meta-analysis and an associate research
scientist at Columbia University's National Center for Children in
Poverty.
A growing number of European countries ban corporal punishment, but
94 percent of U.S. parents reportedly spank their kids by the time the
youngsters are 4 years old. Gershoff said the practice can be traced to
the American colonial belief that obedience to parents teaches children
obedience to God -- which may explain why spanking today is most prevalent
in the Bible Belt.
In a critical commentary published in conjunction with Gershoff's
study in
Psychological Bulletin, three psychologists noted
that most studies of corporal punishment are compromised because they
rely on retrospective interviews with parents and children. Diana
Baumrind, Ph.D., and Philip Cowan, Ph.D., both of the University of
California at Berkeley, and Robert E. Larzelere, Ph.D., of the Nebraska
Medical Center, also argue that a "blanket injunction" against spanking
is not justified in part because Gershoff's analysis included more
extreme physical punishment such as a paddle, belt or stick.
Gershoff counters that 25 percent of parents use an object when
disciplining children.
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