At any age, hitting draws attention away from the child's behavior and causes feelings of hurt, anger, and humiliation. Children who are hit are so overwhelmed by these bad feelings that they cannot remember what they were being punished for. They focus primarily on themselves and their own pain and less on changing their behaviors. In sum, evidence suggests that children who are physically punished often actually increase their unwanted behavior. Increases child's aggressiveness.
Most research finds that physical punishment leads to increased aggressive behavior.
In fact, even moderate levels of physical punishment lead children to be significantly more violent toward their parents, their siblings, and others. Research by University of New Hampshire sociologist Murray Straus and others provide ample evidence of a strong relationship between juvenile delinquency and physical punishment. Psychological and behavioral effects. Physical punishment of children seems to have long-term adverse effects on their psychological well being. In a survey of community college students, those who received a high amount of physical punishment as children had lower grades and exhibited a greater number of such problems as aggression, delinquency, depression, and anxiety.