Is Spanking Good Therapy for Little Ones?

"Spanking detrimental to children", study says

By Elizabeth Landau
CNN 9/16/2009

Think a little spanking won't do much harm to kids? New research says the effects can be long-lasting.

Story Highlights:

Study: Spanking at age 1 predicts aggressive behavior problems at age 2

Spanking also linked to lower scores on a mental development test at age 3

Experts say parents should explore other methods of disciplining children

Spanking reinforces negative memories in the child's mind

A new study of more than 2,500 toddlers from low-income families found that spanking may have detrimental effects on behavior and mental development.

"We're talking about infants and toddlers, and I think that just, cognitively, they just don't understand enough about right or wrong or punishment to benefit from being spanked," said Lisa Berlin, the study's lead author and research scientist at the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University.

Berlin and colleagues found that children who were spanked as 1-year-olds tended to behave more aggressively at age 2, and did not perform as well as other children on a test measuring thinking skills at age 3. The study is published in the journal Child Development.

It states further that the study is just the latest of many supporting psychologists' advice against spanking.

The new study focused on children from low-income families because prior research suggested that spanking is more common among them, Berlin said. This may be because of the added stresses of parenting in a low-income situation, or because of a "cultural contagion" of behaviors among people. For example, in some families this study examined, a grandmother would spank a child, or neighbors would encourage physical discipline, she said.

Previous research had also found that parents who spank are more likely to be younger, less educated, single, and/or depressed and stressed, Berlin's study said. Spanking is most commonly used among parents who were spanked themselves, who live in the South, and/or who identify themselves as conservative Christians.

Nonetheless, the article goes on to reflect that some remain unconvinced that parents should never spank their children.

Follow the whole story on CNN at http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/16/spanking.children.parenting/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn