Corporal Punishment Often Escalates to Abuse
Physical Reprimand Can Lead to More Compliant Behavior in Children
Sep 23, 2009
“Each year about 44 Canadian children are known to have been killed by family members; 35 of them by parents. The figures for the United States are approximately 10 times higher," says the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect.
In a 2008 report by the National Center for Children entitled"Physical Punishment In The U.S.: What Research Tells Us About Its Effects on Children" Dr.Elizabeth Gershoff psychologist found that Corporal punishment can turn into serious physical abuse. Children who are exposed to violence are more likely to be violent as adults.
In a large-scale meta-analysis of 88 studies, Dr. Elizabeth Thompson Gershoff, looked at both positive and negative behaviors in children that were associated with corporal punishment. Gershoff looked for associations between parental use of corporal punishment and 11 child behaviors and experiences, including several in childhood (immediate compliance, moral internalization, quality of relationship with parent, and physical abuse from that parent), three in both childhood and adulthood (mental health, aggression, and criminal or antisocial behavior) and one in adulthood alone (abuse of own children or spouse).
Gershoff found "strong associations" between corporal punishment and all eleven child behaviors and experiences. Ten of the associations were negative such as with increased child aggression and antisocial behavior. The single desirable association was between corporal punishment and increased immediate compliance on the part of the child.
The two largest effect sizes (strongest associations) were immediate compliance by the child and physical abuse of the child by the parent. Gershoff believes that these two strongest associations model the complexity of the debate around corporal punishment.
"The act of corporal punishment itself is different across parents - parents vary in how frequently they use it, how forcefully they administer it, how emotionally aroused they are when they do it, and whether they combine it with other techniques. Each of these qualities of corporal punishment can determine which child-mediated processes are activated, and, in turn, which outcomes may be realized," Gershoff concludes.
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. This is concerning, as children ages 5 to 8 are most at risk for severe corporal punishment, ages at which significant emotional, social, and cognitive development happens.
"Until researchers, clinicians, and parents can definitively demonstrate the presence of positive effects of corporal punishment, including effectiveness in halting future misbehavior, not just the absence of negative effects, we as psychologists cannot responsibly recommend its use," Gershoff writes.
Quality of Parent-Child Relationship
Gershoff found that Corporal punishment is associated with decreased quality of the parent-child relationship. This is very troublesome since most spankings happen between 5:00PM and bedtime, which comprises the majority of parent-child time together for most children. Spankings were also more likely to happen if the child's misbehavior placed them at some risk for harm, and protecting the child is part of the parent-child relationship.
Physical harm to a child inflicted by a parent out of control and in a rage is completely inappropriate and dangerous. Discipline is meant to teach a person the difference between right and wrong, not to cause injury.
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