vc318

Study: Spanking Kids Leads to More Aggressive Behavior - Yahoo! News

Study: Spanking Kids Leads to More Aggressive Behavior

Disciplining young children is one of the key jobs of any parent - most people would have no trouble agreeing with that. But whether or not that discipline should include spanking or other forms of corporal punishment is a far trickier issue.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not endorse spanking for any reason, citing its lack of long-term effectiveness as a behavior-changing tactic. Instead the AAP supports strategies such as "time-outs" when children misbehave, which focus on getting kids to reflect on their behavior and the consequences of their actions. Still, as many parents can attest, few responses bring about the immediate interruption of a full-blown tantrum like a swift whack to the bottom. (See pictures of the evolution of the college dorm.)

Now researchers at Tulane University provide the strongest evidence yet against the use of spanking: of the nearly 2,500 youngsters in the study, those who were spanked more frequently at age 3 were more likely to be aggressive by age 5. The research supports earlier work on the pitfalls of corporal punishment, including a study by Duke University researchers that revealed that infants who were spanked at 12 months scored lower on cognitive tests at age 3.

"I'm excited by the idea that there is now some nice hard data that can back up clinicians when they share their caution with parents against using corporal punishment," says Dr. Jayne Singer, clinical director of the child and parent program at Children's Hospital Boston, who was not involved in the study. (Read "Should Kids Be Bribed to Do Well in School?")

Led by Catherine Taylor, the Tulane study was the first to control simultaneously for variables that are most likely to confound the association between spanking and later aggressive behavior. The researchers accounted for factors such as acts of neglect by the mother, violence or aggression between the parents, maternal stress and depression, the mother's use of alcohol and drugs, and even whether the mother considered abortion while pregnant with the child.

Each of these factors contributed to children's aggressive behavior at age 5, but they could not explain all of the violent tendencies at that age. Further, the positive connection between spanking and aggression remained strong, even after these factors had been accounted for.

If you want to see the rest of the article, just click the link above.

The problem with spanking is that parents use it instead of talking to their kids about what they've done wrong. Also it sends the message that spanking equals respect, which isn't true. If anything, it creates fear. As a parent, I never want my child to be afraid to tell me things.

sunnykerr

Well, my dad spanked and my mother never did. So I know which one I preferred. As an adult now, I also know which one made me learn how to behave and which one made me look forward to the day where I could exact my revenge on the old paternal unit.

In my limited opinion, spanking doesn't just teach kids that violence is an acceptable response under certain circumstances, it also teaches them that people with power can humiliate others. Personally, those are not lessons I find particularly beneficial.

Callace

ITA with all of that.

Something's got to be seriously wrong with someone who spanks infants

Wildfire Girl

12 months seems awfully young, but

Spanking was allowed in our house, and I turned out higher than normal intellegence on school tests.

I think it kinda depends on the type of spanking, whether it's abusive or whether it's more just the old fashioned in trouble spanking that makes a difference.

Callace

It is not spanking that makes good dicipline, it is the message to the kid that s/he is doing something wrong, and has to stop doing that. Physical touch can be a good way to grab the kid's attention but I really dont believe in direct spanking as punishment.

sunnykerr

You know, that brings up a good point. Maybe the difference isn't so much who spanks and who doesn't so much as how spanking (or not) is used within a context of active parenting.

My mum didn't spank, but she also explained why we were punished. My dad spanked and didn't explain anything, beyond "you broke a glass, you get spanked."

I think the difference is in the context, not the action.

TheAngel

I got spanked when I was a kid, but I'll honestly say that I deserved it. I wouldn't have done well with a light touch, because I tested limits and just speaking and chastising and time out didn't work. My dad used spanking as a last-ditch effort. He never spanked me in anger or a fit of rage, never left a mark on me, and always explained why I was being spanked. To be honest, if he hadn't done that and hadn't been as patient with me, I probably wouldn't be around today in the same capacity I am now. I would have been in jail or six feet under because i had a lot of behavioral issues as a kid. The sting of a spanking gave me a more lasting reminder of what I'd done, as opposed to time out, which I knew was going to be over soon enough and then I'd go back to my old behavior fairly quickly. I only remember being spanked about a dozen times in my entire childhood, but I deserved every one.

Callace

that is a very good point. It is not so much about spanking or not, as about how parents go about it, psychologically, when they dicipline their kids. The spanking in anger must never happen. I cant imagine anything good coming out of that. But is a last ditch resort for mere dicipline, while the parent is not angry, and can explain to the kid what the problem is as well, may do good. Just like it might some times be necessay to grab a kid, and hold him or her down, to keep the kid from trashing the whole room in a temper fit or so.

sunnykerr

Yup. I think it's all in the parenting skills and not, perhaps, in the actual act.

TheAngel

Well, I can tell you, from years of experience working with kids, and having worked at a daycare that had some special needs kids, I did have to hold down a kid. I can honestly say that had CPS (Child Protective Services) come, I could have been in a lot of trouble because, here I was restraining a 4 year old girl, but she was bi-polar and terribly violent when she had a manic episode and there was no way to calm her down, you had to just ride it out. She would hit, kick, bite, scratch, head butt. I came home with bites on my arms and she scratched so hard I'd bleed, and this was when I had been restraining her. If you left her alone she'd throw toys at the other kids, rip things off the walls, try to turn over tables. I think a lot of people who make the assumption, or the statement "no, you should only treat kids with kindness and love and never be physically aggressive with them" have never dealt with some of the extreme behaviors kids can have. For this little girl, it was safer for her and for others to physically restrain her. We really had no other option, but we could have gotten in trouble for doing it.

TheAngel

Sorry, double post.

Callace

I think the key word there is "physically agressive" If you do such things, like spanking or holding the kid down, in an agressive mood, it is wrong. But to do it calmly, just for the childs own good, and for the good of the children around, would not have to be. Tough love is after all the best form of love

sunnykerr

And, obviously, it's not the same thing holding down a child and beating them when they have the ability to be reasoned with. A little girl whose is suffering from emotional and mental issues... it's a different story. It has to be.

vc318

I guess it just varies by the location, but I once helped out at a school where the teachers were trained to restrain the kids when they acted out like that. But that was a while ago and with everything going on like teachers crossing the line and putting their hands on the kids, maybe they don't do that anymore.

sunnykerr

But I think there must be some sort of distinction made between kids with specific conditions whereby a more hands-on approach is likely required and kids with no such condition...

Even then, it's all in the attitude. Striking a child in anger is never acceptable. Under no circumstances. But if spanking is administered as a form of discipline, calmly and rationally... I still am uncomfortable with the idea that there aren't better ways to parent or supervise, but I would be more amenable to it.