Blogpost 3: Effects of Spanking

I just read a very interesting article about a new study that has provided even stronger evidence that between spanking and future aggressive behavior is causal, not just connected. In other words, this study is strong evidence that corporal punishment causes children to become more aggressive and misbehave more in the long run. The study controlled the variables that could also contribute to children having aggressive behavior to help make sure it was the spanking that was causing the aggressive behavior. Here's a few quotes from the article:

"The odds of a child being more aggressive at age 5 if he had been spanked more than twice in the month before the study began increased by 50%,". And because it is also accounted for varying levels of natural aggression in children, the researchers are confident that "it's not just that children who are more aggressive are more likely to be spanked."
Compared with children who were not hit, those who were spanked were more likely to be defiant, demand immediate satisfaction of their wants and needs, get frustrated easily, have temper tantrums and lash out physically against others."

Maybe the reason for that, is spanking replaces fear rather than understanding. Even if a child were to stop his screaming and crying when spanked, that doesn't mean he understands why he shouldn't be acting like that in the first place. What's more, spanking models aggressive behavior as a solution to problems.


\Why do you think parents still continue to use corporal punishment despite the fact that it is uneffective? I think it is the common mistake that parents gets easily angry that they forgot to remember that spanking do have negative effects on childrens. The spanking gets the kid to obey the orders of their paretns being given at the time of the spanking, but causes more behavior problems in the future.

It’s important to distinguish the difference between punishment and discipline. The goal of discipline should be to teach the child to behave in a proper manner. 
Spanking does not provide the child with any positive effect.