To Spank Or Not

Most Americans have an opinion about spanking a child as a form of discipline and whether spanking has any long-term effects on the child. While many experts might argue that the use of corporal punishment in raising children is effective in immediately stopping the undesired behavior and harmless with regard to affecting the child's psyche, many studies have shown a correlation between corporal punishment as a regular method of discipline and anti-social behavior, a desire for revenge, anxiety and an acceptance of violence. Although there are significant arguments that adequately defend both views, parents would be wise to contemplate the negative long-term effects of choosing spanking as disciplinary action.

Many proponents of spanking believe that the trouble with children today is that they are not receiving enough punishment for misbehaving. Proponents cite the fact that parents who believed in corporal punishment raised them, and today they have become respectful, law-abiding citizens who were not negatively impacted by being spanked. While this may be true, why would any parent want to force desirable behavior from their children through the use of force? The parent is teaching the child to fear the wrath of the parent rather than learn good behavior. Usually a parent will spank a child out of frustration. When the parent is no longer frustrated, he will expect the child not to be resentful toward him after pain has been inflicted upon the child. This is inconsistent with forming a loving, trusting, respectful bond between child and parent. Some experts believe spanking can become dangerous and escalate to further physical abuse because the motive for some parents to spank is to release their tension and frustration.

No reasonable person would argue that spanking invariably turns children into violent criminals, however, researchers such as Murray Straus (1990) have shown that the likelihood of people who are hit as children learning to inflict pain upon others is increased (Straus and Gelles, l990; Wolfe, l987). Studies conducted by proponents of spanking, Dr. Marjorie Lindner Gunnoe of the Department of Psychology, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Carrie Lea Mariner of Child Trends Inc., Washington, do not assume the theoretical link between spanking and aggression, violence, and murder. Like most child-development experts, they believe that harsh and abusive discipline can create violent and antisocial individuals, normal spanking may or may not, depending on the cultural context, child's age, and the meaning the child ascribes to that spanking. Why would any parent want to take such a risk with their child's emotional health? Could a child's ill behavior warrant such a potentially negative outcome that could affect him for years to come?

While these well-intentioned people may not become social deviants or criminals, often times they have difficulty controlling their anger, have feelings of low self-worth, harbor resentment and resort to aggressive behavior when dealing with a frustrating situation and otherwise more readily accept forms of mental and verbal abuse in their own relationships as normal behavior.

Impressionable children learn from their surroundings. If they witness their siblings being spanked or receive a spanking themselves from a frustrated parent, they learn that hitting is acceptable when they are frustrated by someone's behavior. Hitting their siblings is an ironic result of the type of undesirable behavior their parents are trying to avoid. How many of us have heard, "If

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