A new study on spanking has found the more children are spanked, the more likely they are to defy their parents.
The study, authored by a team from the University of Michigan and the University of Texas at Austin, analyzed the outcomes associated with spanking, finding a link between spanking and anti-social behavior, aggression, mental health problems and cognitive disabilities.
Published in April’s Journal of Family Psychology, the study looked at five decades of research and more than 160,000 children.
"Our analysis focuses on what most Americans would recognize as spanking and not on potentially abusive behaviors," said Elizabeth Gershoff of the University of Texas at Austin told TODAY.com.
The study, which defined spanking as “hitting a child on their buttocks or extremities using an open hand,” determined there is “a link between spanking and increased risk for detrimental child outcomes.”
"In childhood, parental use of spanking was associated with low moral internalization, aggression, antisocial behavior, externalizing behavior problems, internalizing behavior problems, mental health problems, negative parent- child relationships, impaired cognitive ability, low self-esteem, and risk of physical abuse from parents. In adulthood, prior experiences of parental use of spanking were significantly associated with adult antisocial behavior, adult mental health problems, and with positive attitudes about spanking," researchers wrote, according to TODAY.com.
According to the study, the results for spanking “did not substantially differ” from those of physical abuse. They noted, however, that the effects are subtle and not every child who is spanked will develop behavioral or mental health problems.
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"Although the magnitude of the observed associations may be small, when extrapolated to the population in which 80 percent of children are being spanked, such small effects can translate into large societal impacts. Parents who use spanking, practitioners who recommend it, and policymakers who allow it might reconsider doing so given that there is no evidence that spanking does any good for children and all evidence points to the risk of it doing harm," the study read.
Previous studies have come to similar conclusions before, with some also finding a link between spanking and lower IQs.
Nineteen states still allow spanking in schools, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.
The American Psychological Association claims positive reinforcement is more effective in changing a child’s behavior.
“The task is to help children change their behavior, and physical punishment is not needed to accomplish that,” Alan E. Kazdin, professor of psychology at Yale University and director of Yale's Parenting Center and Child Conduct Clinic told the association in a 2010 interview. “Developing positive opposite behaviors, i.e., the desired behaviors that the parent wants, is much more effective.”
The message is similar to the one from researchers of the latest study.
"We hope that our study can help educate parents about the potential harms of spanking and prompt them to try positive and non-punitive forms of discipline," the team wrote.
