Major study links spanking of children to later aggression and behavior problems

Jet, July 15, 2002

While spanking a child will force him to quickly comply with a parent's demands, parents who spank run the risk of causing their children long-term psychological harm.

After analyzing six decades of expert research on corporal punishment, psychologist Elizabeth Gershoff, found links between spanking and 10 negative behaviors or experiences in children, including aggression, anti-social behavior and mental health problems.

However, she found the one positive result of spanking was that of instant obedience.

But Gershoff urged parents who spank to "think of something else to do-leave the room, count to 10, and come back again. The risk is just too great," she advised.

Gershoff, a researcher at Columbia University's National Center for Children in Poverty, spent five years on her project, analyzing 88 studies of corporal punishment conducted since 1938. The studies tracked both the short- and long-term effects of spanking on children.

Her analysis, one of the most comprehensive ever on the topic of spanking in the U.S., appears in the new edition of the American Psychological Association's bimonthly journal.

It is, however, accompanied by a critique from three other psychologists who defend mild to moderate spanking as a viable disciplinary option, especially for children 2 to 6, but they advise parents with abusive tendencies not to spank.

Robert Larzelere, a psychology professor at the Nebraska Medical Center and one of the three psychologists critiquing the findings, noted that while Gershoff found links between spanking and negative behaviors, she did not assert categorically that spanking caused those behaviors.

Larzelere, in an interview, said he remains convinced that mild, non-abusive spanking can he effective particularly in dealing with defiant 2- to 6-year-olds.

Gershoff cautioned that her findings do not imply that all children who are spanked turn out to be aggressive or delinquent. But she contended that corporal punishment on its own does not teach children right from wrong and may not deter them from misbehaving when their parents are absent.

Several major national organizations, including the American Academy of pediatrics, have taken an official stand against corporal punishment by parents. The American Psychological Association has not taken a stance, though it is on record opposing corporal punishment at schools.

"Americans need to re-evaluate why we believe it is reasonable to hit young, vulnerable children, when it is against the law to hit other adults, prisoners, and even animals," she wrote.