On Balance, Spanking is Detrimental

Spanking, in its colloquial sense, is the topic of this debate. I intend to demonstrate that spanking is an overall harm to kids, and that that other punishments are preferable to it.I. NoncomplianceI open my case with a study conducted by Tulane University researchers [1][2]. In it, the mothers of 2,500 3-year-old children were asked how frequently they spanked their children. After 2 years, when the children were 5, the researchers assessed the aggressive behavior of these kids who were spanked frequently and of those who weren’t. Among the potentially confounding variables controlled for were substance abuse, depression, stress, psychological maltreatment, spousal abuse, and consideration of abortion [1]. The first of its kind to control for these issues, the study found that “the children who had been spanked were more likely than the nonspanked to be defiant, demand immediate satisfaction of their wants and needs, become frustrated easily, have temper tantrums and lash out physically against other people or animals” by about 50% [2]. With a P-value (the chance the connection is due to random variation) of under 0.0001 [1], these findings are statistically significant, and the null hypothesis can be thrown out.These results show a truth: that spanking teaches children that aggressive behavior is useful in stopping undesirable behavior. It’s no surprise, then, that children will become more noncompliant as they are reprimanded so aggressively. The more often a child is the recipient of corporal punishment, the more often they will employ belligerent behavior to solve their conflicts with others. Kids learn how to act by imitating their parents’ actions, so it should follow that by acting in a consistent way, a certain action should effect child behavior as they grow into adolescence and adulthood.II. Antisocial behaviorAnother study shows another detriment of spanking. In a survey of mothers of about 3,000 6-year-old children, Murray Straus of the University of New Hampshire analyzed the relationship between antisocial behavior and corporal punishment [3][4]. Controlling for the level of each child’s antisocial behavior at the start of the study, the family’s socioeconomic status, the sex of the child, and the amount of emotional support the household provides, the researchers examined the children’s tendencies after three years [3]. Antisocial behavior, specifically, “cheating, lying, disobedience at school, breaking things deliberately, not feeling sorry after misbehaving or not getting along with teachers”, had a strong association with the amount of spanking the child received at the beginning of the study [3][4].We understand these findings when we realize the undermining of trust that occurs on the child’s end. Parents are supposed to provide unconditional love and raise their children in an environment where they feel safe, but in households where spanking is the norm, increased hostility toward authority figures ensue. This breach of trust can cause children to struggle in their future friendships, and have trouble forming healthy relationships adults.III. Supplementary findingsEven more evidence supports this stance. In a meta-analysis by experts from two state universities, 50 years of research involving 160,000 children were comprehensively studied [5]. In it, “researchers looked at a wide range of studies and noted that spanking was associated with negative outcomes consistently and across all types of studies, including those using the strongest methodologies such as longitudinal or experimental designs….Both spanking and physical abuse were associated with the same detrimental child outcomes in the same direction and nearly the same strength.” [5] These detrimental outcomes consisted of antisocial behavior, aggression, mental health issues, and cognitive difficulties [5]. With the researchers calling it the most complete analysis to date of the effects of spanking, it’s hard not to be skeptical about the significance of these findings. Another Pediatrics study examined the long-lasting effects of spanking and yet again came to a similar conclusion [6][7]. 1,900 families were studied across 20 medium to large U.S. cities, and it was found that “Mothers who were still spanking their child by the age of 5 -- no matter how often -- were more likely to have a child who was more aggressive than his or her peers by the time they turned nine. Mothers who spanked their child at least twice a week when they were 3 also had children more likely to have these problem behaviors.” [6] Another surprising finding was the effect this had on cognitive ability: “Children who were spanked at least twice a week by their fathers at the age of 5 were more likely to score lower on vocabulary and language-comprehension tests.” [6] Not only do these results give reason to think that spanking negatively impacts behavior, it suggests that it has far-reaching mental downsides. In an additional study, 758 young adults were asked if they received corporal punishment as a kid. Those who said they had were also more likely to have recently committed dating violence [8]. Confounding variables such as physical abuse, age, sex, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status were controlled for, with a confidence interval of 95% [8]. This indicates statistical significance, and puts a serious thorn in the side of those who allege spanking has no long-term harms.ConclusionSpanking one’s kids arguably leads to noncompliance, antisocial behavior, violence, and cognitive inability. When organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics denounce the practice [9], and 53 countries outlaw it [10], it becomes time to evaluate the practice and decide if it really needs to be abandoned.Thus, I affirm. Over to Con.= Sources =1. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org...2. http://content.time.com...3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...4. http://www.cnn.com...5. https://news.utexas.edu...6. https://www.cbsnews.com...7. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org...8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...9. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org...10. http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org...