What the Research Says About Physical Punishment

On Jul 9, 12:07 pm, "0:-]" wrote:
http://www.uwex.edu/CES/flp/pp/pdf/punishmt.pdf

Parenting the Preschooler
Joan E. LeFebvre
Area Family Living Agent
University of Wisconsin-Extension
Vilas, Forest, Florence Counties

What the Research Says About Physical Punishment

Why do parents spank their children? According to
Murray Straus, a national family violence researcher,
the obvious answer is to correct misbehavior. But
another reason is that it's expected of them. In the
United States legal and social norms give parents the
right to use physical punishment to control and train
their children. Parents are expected or obligated to use
physical punishment "when necessary."
So How Much Spanking Do Parents Do?
In a 1994 USA Today/CNN Gallup Poll, 67 percent of
a national sample of American adults agreed with the
statement, "It is sometimes necessary to discipline a
child with a good hard spanking." The share of
Americans holding that opinion has dropped 20
percent since 1986, when 84 percent said spanking
was acceptable discipline.
Corporal Punishment: What Is It?
For some parents spanking means hitting the child on
the buttocks. For others it refers to all hitting of a
child, such as slapping the hand or the child's face.
Spanking, hitting, and slapping are forms of physical
punishment or corporal punishment. Murray Straus,
defines corporal punishment as the use of physical
force with the intention of causing bodily pain, but not
injury (which is the distinguishing factor for child
abuse), for the purpose of correction or control.
Is There Anything Wrong With Spanking?
Research on spanking has identified a number of
harmful side effects.
Aggression
1. Spanking teaches that hitting others is morally
correct.
2. When parents hit children for misbehavior it's no
wonder it increases the probability of children
hitting each other.
3. They are learning by example.
Not surprisingly, spanked children grow up to spank
their own children. A 1983 national survey found that
parents who had been physically punished beyond age
13 were more likely to severely assault or abuse their
own children. Furthermore, the more physical
punishment experienced by either men or women during
childhood, the more likely they were to be abusive of
their spouses. In societies where physical punishment is
rare or infrequent, the existence of wife abuse is also rare
or infrequent.
Frequency of spanking contributes to a child's aggressive
behavior. The more a child is spanked, the greater the
probability he or she will hit other children outside the
family.
Difficult-to-Control Children
Spanking chips away at the bond of affection between
parent and child. Children are more likely to do what
parents want if there is a strong bond of affection with
the parents. Several research studies have found that 40
to 50 percent of people, when asked how they felt when
they were spanked, said they hated the parent. Consider
how this would affect the relationship of parents and
their teens, who are often too big to control by physical
force. The only real resource we have with teens is the
bank of goodwill created through parenting over the
years.

Does it matter what "research", or anything says? Someday, there may
be only one person left to hold your hand when you die. Do you need
that baby that you've smacked to be that person? Better sort it
out well ahead of time, before the smacking.