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Spanking Boomerangs Into Misbehavior

Associated Press

Chicago-Parents who spank their children are provoking the very misbehavior they are trying to stop, but they don't see the "boomerang" effect because it happens over weeks or months, a new study suggests.

Many past studies have linked spanking with increased aggressiveness in children, but authors of the new study say they have found the strongest evidence yet of cause and effect.

"When parents use corporal punishment to reduce antisocial behavior, the long-term effect tends to be the opposite," the researchers wrote in the August issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

A team led by sociologist Murray A. Straus, co-director of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire, analyzed 1988 and 1990 national survey data from 807 mothers of children ages 6 to 9, and compared levels of antisocial behavior among spanked and un spanked children over the interval. 

Forty-four percent of mothers reported spanking their children in the week before they were interviewed, and they spanked them an average of twice that week, the researchers said.

The more spanking at the beginning of the study period, the higher the level of antisocial behavior at the end, independent of other traits that can affect such behavior, such as the family's socioeconomic status and the amount of warmth and support parents give their children, researchers said.

Antisocial behavior included cheating or lying, bullying and other misbehavior.

Proponents of spanking are not swayed.

A spokesman for Alabama Gov. Forrest "Fob" James Jr., who advocated successful state legislation approving corporal punishment in school, said "Corporal punishment is appropriate in some cases. It's a time-tested method of discipline. It's been used for thousands of years by parents and teachers.

Noted News

Sparing the Rod Helps Behavior

Washington ... Researchers have found that the more a parent spanks a child for misbehaving, the worse, over time, that child behaves.

"We are able to show that when parents attempt to correct their child's behavior by spanking, it backfires. In the study, the more they spanked, the worse a child behaved two years and four years later.

Behavior got worse with more spanking, regardless of how much love, affection and attention the parents showed the child, Straus said. Thus, Straus strongly advocates that parents use non-physical alternatives to teach children good behavior, such as setting clear rules, reasoning, timeouts, and a withdrawal of certain privileges when necessary.

The new report has its limitations. It examined the disciplining of children ages 6 to 9, but not younger children. It still leaves completely unanswered what to do with toddlers exploring their world, terrible 2-year-olds throwing tantrums and preschoolers testing their limits.

Robert Larzelere, research director at Boys Town in Omaha, Neb., called Straus' "the strongest study to date" that links spanking with bad behavior. And he agrees that if parents are still routinely spanking their 6-to-9 year olds, "clearly something has gone wrong with the way parents are dealing with the child.

Other studies show some spanking of children, ages 18 months to 3 years, has improved behavior.

His research indicates that parents, who set clear rules, reason with toddlers, but use a swat to the rear as a last resort discipline their children best.

For more information contact DrHealHeart@aol.com.