Banning Spanking by Parents
This matter of misrepresenting the science on the effects of spanking in children is significant in that it is being used to influence legislators worldwide to ban spanking by parents To date, spanking-ban advocates claim that 52 countries have banned disciplinary spanking, with France as the most recent case.19 Many of these bans are only partial, such as those in Germany (since 2000) and Austria (since 1989), where less than a third of their parents were aware in 2007 that mild spanking had been banned.20 Some countries have adopted intrusively written bans, such as New Zealand which prohibits all forms of physical force to correct misbehavior, including restraining a toddler with firm hand holding.21 Other countries are considering such bans and activists are preparing to lobby US legislators to do the same. Remarkably, there is no objective evidence that any of these bans have curbed child abuse or teen violence as intended. In fact, there is more evidence that the incidence of each has increased following these bans, especially in countries that enforce them more vigorously.20,22
Conclusion
In summary, Gershoff and Grogan-Kaylor’s most recent meta-analysis relies on correlational evidence that would be considered woefully inadequate in any other scientific field. Further, their research ignores the beneficial findings of studies that have investigated appropriate ways of spanking in disciplinary situations traditionally considered appropriate. Consequently, Gershoff and Grogan-Kaylor’s conclusions are not valid. Better constructed research has found appropriately administered disciplinary spanking to be effective in correcting defiant behavior that fails to respond to milder disciplinary measures without causing long term harm.
This critique of Gershoff and Grogan-Kaylor’s work in no way justifies parents who haphazardly use physical discipline in any manner they choose. Actually, the more parents maintain a positive relationship with their child, encourage appropriate behavior, and respond to misbehavior with mild, effective disciplinary tactics, the less disciplinary spanking is required. Spanking should only be used when children fail to respond to milder disciplinary tactics (e.g., time out) or fail to stop harmful misbehavior (e.g., running into a street). Parents should ensure that their children know that any disciplinary action, including spanking, is motivated by love and concern for their well-being. Parents must also be certain they do not use disciplinary spanking too severely. Finally, spanking should always be used in a manner that reduces the need to use it in the future. Back-up spanking accomplishes this by enforcing cooperation with milder disciplinary tactics, such as time out. Every child is different, so not all disciplinary tactics will work as well with every child or for every situation with the same child. Parents need a full range of non-abusive disciplinary options to guide their children toward achieving their full potential, rather than having effective options eliminated on the basis of inadequate evidence.
Primary Authors: Robert E. Larzelere, Ph.D. (Oklahoma State University), and Den A. Trumbull, M.D. (American College of Pediatricians)
January 2017
For a PDF copy of this statement, please click here:
Research on Disciplinary Spanking is Misleading
References
1. Gershoff ET, Grogan-Kaylor A. Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses.
Journal of Family Psychology.2016;30:453-469.
2. Gershoff ET. Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: A meta-analytic and theoretical review.
Psychological Bulletin. 2002;128:539-579.
3. Society for Research in Human Development. Resolution on corporal punishment (CP) of children. 2013;
http://www.srhdonline.org/reolution-on-corporal-punishment.html. Accessed October 13, 2016.
4. Friedman SB, Schonberg SK. Consensus statements [from the invitational conference, The Short- and Long-Term Consequences of Corporal Punishment].
Pediatrics. 1996;98:853.
5. Bean AW, Roberts MW. The effect of time-out release contingencies on changes in child noncompliance.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 1981;9:95-105.
6. Day DE, Roberts MW. An analysis of the physical punishment component of a parent training program.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 1983;11:141-152.
7. Roberts MW. Enforcing chair timeouts with room timeouts.
Behavior Modification. 1988;12:353-370.
8. Roberts MW, Powers SW. Adjusting chair timeout enforcement procedures for oppositional children.
Behavior Therapy. 1990;21:257-271.
9. Ferguson CJ. Spanking, corporal punishment and negative long-term outcomes: A meta-analytic review of longitudinal studies.
Clinical Psychology Review. 2013;33:196-208.
10. Gershoff ET, Grogan-Kaylor A, Lansford JE, et al. Parent discipline practices in an international sample: Associations with child behaviors and moderation by perceived normativeness.
Child Development. 2010;81(2):487-502.
11. Larzelere RE, Cox RB, Jr. Making valid causal inferences about corrective actions by parents from longitudinal data.
Journal of Family Theory & Review. 2013;5:282-299.
12. Larzelere RE, Ferrer E, Kuhn BR, Danelia K. Differences in causal estimates from longitudinal analyses of residualized versus simple gain scores: Contrasting controls for selection and regression artifacts.
International Journal of Behavioral Development. 2010;34(2):180-189.
13. Larzelere RE, Baumrind D. Are spanking injunctions scientifically supported?
Law and Contemporary Problems. 2010;73(2):57-88.
14. Tennant FS, Jr., Detels R, Clark V. Some childhood antecedents of drug and alcohol abuse.
American Journal of Epidemiology. 1975;102:377-385.
15. Gunnoe ML. Associations between parenting style, physical discipline, and adjustment in adolescents’ reports.
Psychological Reports: Disability & Trauma. 2013;112(3):933-975.
16. Ellison CG, Musick MA, Holden GW. Does conservative Protestantism moderate the association between corporal punishment and child outcomes?
Journal of Marriage and Family. 2011;73(5):946-961.
17. Li Y, Shi A, Wan Y, Hotta M, Ushijima H. Child behavior problems: Prevalence and correlates in rural minority areas of China.
Pediatrics International. 2001;43:651-661.
18. Larzelere RE, Kuhn BR. Comparing child outcomes of physical punishment and alternative disciplinary tactics: A meta-analysis.
Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review. 2005;8:1-37.
19. Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children. States which have prohibited all corporal punishment. 2016;
http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/progress/prohibiting-states/. Accessed January 17, 2017.
20. Bussmann KD, Erthal C, Schroth A. Effects of banning corporal punishment in Europe: A five-nation comparison. In: Durrant JE, Smith AB, eds. Global pathways to abolish physical punishment: Realizing children’s rights. New York: Routledge; 2011:299-322.
21. McCoskrie B. Defying human nature: An analysis of New Zealand’s 2007 anti-smacking law. 2016.
Smacking Law (2016) | Family First NZ.
22. Larzelere RE, Swindle T, Johnson BR. Swedish trends in criminal assaults against minors since banning spanking, 1981-2010. International Journal of Criminology and Sociology. 2013;2:129-137.