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They Say: Spanking Makes Your Kid Mean, a Bit Dumb
Spanking really young kids appears to make them aggressive toddlers who underperform on cognitive tests. So says a study published in Child Development this month.
Though the findings were modest — the kids weren’t that mean or that dumb — it adds to a growing body of scientific research that says spanking really doesn’t have a long-term positive effect on child behaviors and has negative consequences to boot.
The study observed the interaction between parents and their child and compared that to how many times per week the parents reported their children had been spanked by a caregiver. They did this for the subjects at one year, two years and three years.
Being spanked at 1 was associated with aggressive behaviors at 2 and not doing well on cognitive tests at 3. Being spanked more frequently at 2 (three times per week as opposed to 2.6 times per week for the younger ones) didn’t compound the aggressiveness or poor testing.
(It’s hard to believe is that people spank one-year-olds!)
Verbal punishment didn’t have the same effect, even if the caregiver yelled, scolded or said mean things to the kids, as long as the caregiver was otherwise loving and attentive.
The 2,500 research subjects were all low-income and white, Hispanic or black. Researchers focused on low-income families, a demographic where spanking is “cultural normative,” to detect a lesser effect of spanking on the child, which they did not find.
What’s your take on spanking? If you look at the research, there’s just nothing there to support it as a long-term behavior modifier. So why do people still do it? At the same time, if parents were spanked as kids and never experienced other ways to solve problems or deal with conflict, of course spanking is their discipline of choice.
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[...] They Say: Spanking Makes Your Kid Mean, a Bit Dumb [...]
They Say: Fortified Baby Formula Actually Works! In a Way … | Strollerderby commented on Sep 16 09 at 11:37 pm[...] They Say: Spanking Makes Your Kid Mean, a Bit Dumb [...]
Real Estate Bust Hits Playhouse Market | Strollerderby commented on Sep 17 09 at 2:21 pm[...] few commenters on the Strollerderby post, They Say: Spanking Makes Your Kid Mean, a Bit Dumb, question how scientific this study was and if other variables could have played a role in the [...]
To spank or not to spank? Study says early spankings make for aggressive toddlers | Crunchy Domestic Goddess commented on Sep 18 09 at 9:32 am[...] this week we talked about some less-than-desirable outcomes of spanking (aggression, diminished cognitive capabilities). Today, let’s deal with the [...]
When ‘I Love You’ Means ‘I Control You’ | Strollerderby commented on Sep 18 09 at 4:15 pmLucky commented on Sep 16 09 at 11:37 amApparently you’ve never been hit in the head with a sippy cup launched by a surprisingly well coordinated 13-month-old! ;-)
brokemom commented on Sep 16 09 at 12:37 pmNo doubt. I spanked my son (18 mos) for the first time last night, because I got a wooden duck thrown smack at my face. I killed the duck (ok, I threw it outside) and I felt VERY not ok for giving my son a swat on the butt. It didn’t faze him at all. I am not a believer in spanking, and I am ashamed that I let my anger at the duck get in the way of how I would normally discipline my child.
anon commented on Sep 16 09 at 2:08 pmComments Correlation is not causation. This study doesn’t show that spanking makes kids any one thing or another. A helpful link for you: http://faculty.biola.edu/paulp/nztabconts.47.pdf
Ali commented on Sep 16 09 at 3:58 pmPerhaps the kids who were spanked were agressive to begin with and that was why they were spanked. I love the fact that the “study” says we can cuss our kids, tell them they are worthless and stupid but it wont hurt them as much as spanking. So just yell at them and call them ugly names. Muuuuuch better.
Knitty commented on Sep 16 09 at 4:15 pmSurely, Madeline, you don’t believe that spanking your child will cause deafness? Perhaps you should re-word that.
Kristina commented on Sep 16 09 at 7:47 pmI don’t know about this. I think that there are too many other variables in these children’s lives to safely say that the spanking alone caused them to be any different than their non-spanked peers. Interesting info, but I don’t think it’s very scientific. Unless these kids were raised in a lab with the spanking being the one and only difference in their lives then we have to take this with a grain of salt. I honestly don’t think that a spanking every now and then will make a kid less smart than anyone else. How could it?
SusieQ commented on Sep 16 09 at 10:54 pmI was spanked as a child, and I was a well mannered, well behaved honor student. I’m not saying spanking is always the right choice, but surely it’s not the end of the world, either.
Manjari commented on Sep 17 09 at 11:41 amWhether or not the study is sound, I don’t think children should be spanked. I don’t want anyone to hit me, and I think kids should have the same protection from violence that I do. I’ve done what brokemom did once too, but I don’t stand by it. I was very upset with myself, and I will never let it happen again.
Anonymous commented on Sep 23 09 at 1:46 amThis makes me laugh. I was spanked AND beat with the belt, over very minor infractions. Yet, I’m in the 97th percentile. :)
Just as a reminder, most people don’t see it because of the distance between scientific research and themselves, but these studies are not the be all and end all of truth.
Even in the pure sciences, you have hypothesis A that is touted for 30 odd years, then suddenly it swings the other way. (Seriously, according to science a century ago, Iowa was supposed to be frozen by now.) When you get into the soft sciences, such as sociology and psychology, things get even more muddy. A lot of data comes from respondents’ own judgments or from the researcher interpretation of a questionnaire. This study sounds like it didn’t take into account the socioeconomic status of the families. Remember, rich families are the ones with resources to provide a nurturing environment, and that is bound to have effects that skew the findings.
And for a little bit of anecdotal evidence: I’m in college, a private one. Among my large group of friends and acquaintances, it’s very easy to tell who was spanked and/or strictly disciplined. The ones that were coddled tend to be lazy, self-absorbed, bratty, etc… Strangely enough, the ones that had the “worst” experiences are the most level headed.
I’d say the biggest things are 1) keep things in perspective and 2) make sure the kid knows they are loved.
Marbles commented on Dec 01 09 at 8:21 pm3 times per week? That’s a lot of spankings. Even once per week seems like a lot to me. Why aren’t these studies done on families who spank very rarely?
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