Reply #33: Please read these studies on the effects of corporal punishment before defending it. [View All]

[Matariki]

http://www.religioustolerance.org/spankin5.htm

1985: Study of teenage corporal punishment and adult depression
1986 to 1990: Study of corporal punishment and child anti-social behavior
1986 to 1990: Corporal punishment and child IQ
1995: Corporal punishment and adult addiction and psychiatric problems


2002: Result of meta-analysis of 88 studies:


The American Psychological Association issued a press release in 2002-JUM concerning the publishing of a large-scale, meta-analysis of 88 studies on spanking of children by psychologist Elizabeth Thompson Gershoff of the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University.

She searched for associations between parental use of corporal punishment and eleven factors, including:
bullet In childhood: immediate compliance, moral internalization, quality of relationship with parent, and physical abuse by that parent, child aggression;
bullet In adulthood: abuse of ones own children, abuse of one's spouse; and
bullet In both childhood and adulthood: mental health, aggression, and criminal or antisocial behavior.

She found "strong associations" in each case. One factor -- immediate compliance by the child -- was positive; the other ten factors were negative. She suggests that these observations give insight into why corporal punishment is such a controversial matter:
bullet Many parents strongly support spanking because they are rewarded with immediate compliance by the child whenever this discipline technique is used.
bullet Many researchers strongly oppose spanking because of serious negative affects on the child during childhood and later in life.

The APA comments:

"The meta-analysis also demonstrates that the frequency and severity of the corporal punishment matters. The more often or more harshly a child was hit, the more likely they are to be aggressive or to have mental health problems."