• Is Spanking a Cycle?

      Another finding from The Harris Poll: Those who were spanked as kids are much more likely to spank with their own kids.

      Is this because it’s an effective form of discipline? Or because it’s hard to break the parenting cycle?

  

• Spanking Infants
  According to Stefan Molyneux of the Freedomain Radio (who put together a comprehensive video on spanking, citing a slew of resources), 1 in 4 parents begin spanking when their baby is 6 months old. That number jumps to 50% by 12 months.

 

• Spanking Under 18 Months
  Even though so many parents are spanking their infants and young toddlers, the American Academy of Pediatrics claims that it’s completely useless to spank under the age of 18 months. Spanking does, however, instill that it’s okay to hit, considering infants and toddlers absorb our actions as guidelines on how to behave.

 

• Negative Effects on Behaviour
  According to Dr. Elizabeth Gershoff — Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Services at The University of Texas at Austin — spanking has negative effects on other behaviours beyond what the spanking was trying to correct. Gershoff analyzed 88 studies over 62 years to determine the effects of spanking on 11 child behaviors. Apart from immediate compliance, spanking has negative effects on the other behaviours.

 

• Increased Aggression
  Gershoff also insists that spanking creates “a model for using aggression” — a statement that’s backed up by plenty of research. According to a study done by Duke University, children spanked as 1-year-olds are more likely to behave aggressively. And according to the AAP, “spanking models aggressive behavior as a solution to conflict and has been associated with increased aggression in preschool and school children.”

 

• Could spanking actually lower your child’s IQ score? According to Sociologist Murray Straus from the University of New Hampshire (a man who has been studying corporal punishment since 1969), the more children were spanked, the lower their IQs. He even tested this theory in other nations, as well. Straus studied 32 countries and found that the average IQ was lower in nations where spanking was common.
   
  During his U.S. research, Straus and his colleague Mallie Paschall found that among 2-to-4-year-old kids, the kids who weren’t spanked at the beginning of the study performed a full five points higher on IQ tests than those who had been spanked. Among kids ages 5 to 9 years old, there was a 2.8-point IQ gap. (And according to TIME.com, Straus and Paschall considered parental education, income, and other environmental factors before drawing statistical conclusions.)
  
  Again, the same problem might arise as with the aggression argument: Are kids with lower IQs simply getting spanked more often, due to their lower cognitive functions? Or is spanking the sole cause of the IQ gap?

 

• According to the Freedomain Radio, the argument that parents use spanking in a calm, controlled, and loving manner is largely bologna — at least when looking at the majority of spanking instances. Typically a parent will spank when they are angry, irritable, tired, or stressed — like when a child is in danger or when a mom’s patience fuse snaps. In a survey published in Paediatrics, 50% of the respondents admitted that they spanked because they “lost it.” 

 

• Why Are We Spanking?
  According to the Freedomain Radio, the argument that parents use spanking in a calm, controlled, and loving manner is largely bologna — at least when looking at the majority of spanking instances. Typically a parent will spank when they are angry, irritable, tired, or stressed — like when a child is in danger or when a mom’s patience fuse snaps. In a survey published in Pediatrics, 50% of the respondents admitted that they spanked because they “lost it.” 

 

• Spanking With Objects
  The survey in Pediatrics proved that “spanking” has a pretty broad spectrum. And apparently a shocking amount of spanking takes corporal punishment up a notch by using something other than an open hand. According to a 2008 American Journal of Preventive Medicine study, using an object during spanking raises the risk of child abuse by nearly 9 times.

 

•  Long-Term Consequences
  Considering so many parents use more intense means of spanking beyond an open hand on diapered buttocks, this must be said: Researchers in Canada found that up to 7 percent of mental health disorders (depression, anxiety, panic disorders, mood disorders, social phobias, etc.) were associated with physical corporal punishment during childhood, including spanking, shoving, and grabbing.(It should be noted that the researchers found an association, not a direct causation. And although they controlled for socio-demographic factors, these findings are based on parents who regularly use physical punishment as a discipline tool  — not a rare tap on a child’s bottom — yet do not engage in more severe physical abuse, sexual abuse, or forms of neglect.)  
  
  Another study — this one done by the Murray Straus Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire — found that corporal punishment can lead to sexual issues later in life.

 

• Spanking: A Gateway to Abuse?
  Corporal punishment (again — this term includes more than just an occasional swat) is also a predictor of adult delinquency, violence, and child abuse.  
  
  As Stefan Molyneux explains, “It doesn’t mean that everyone who is spanked goes on to be a child abuser, but it does mean that almost everyone who is a child abuser was spanked.”

 

• Long-Term Benefits
  Many researchers are in agreement on this point: Spanking might correct the problem in the immediate moment, but it typically doesn’t have long-term benefits. (Beyond teaching that hitting is an acceptable way to express yourself and correct behaviour.)

 

• Moms Feel Guilty
  One study cited in Corporal Punishment and its Effects on Children’s Cognitive and Social Development found that over half of mothers said that spanking was the wrong thing to have done in at least half of the times they spanked their kids.  And isn’t “guilt” often an indicator that something you think or feel is instinctually wrong?

 

• When Does the Spanking Stop
  At what age does “spanking” cross the line from discipline to abuse? Because by the age of 11, 18% of kids are still being hit one or more times a week.  And that number is even higher for boys, who are predisposed to more spanking than girls.
  
  If spanking doesn’t have any long-term benefits to outweigh the highly documented risks, why are we still doing it at such staggering rates? What about relying on time-outs and other punishment systems that remove physical force? Like taking away their toys? Their video games?  Their TV privileges? It’s rare that the scientific research community comes to such a clear consensus on an issue (especially when there’s no profit to be made).
  
  Researchers across the board are yelling through their megaphones, “Stop the spanking!,” and yet the VAST majority of parents don’t listen. Why?
  
  Taken from https://www.babble.com/kid/18-shocking-facts-about-spanking/