Aspects Of Spanking

Introduction

Hardly was there a time before society became so politically correct and oversensitive to the aspect of discipline that children were routinely swatted for misbehaving. Whether done with a belt, spatula or by hand, a child who defied established boundaries or spoke out of turn would learn a quick and painful lesson that - in theory - would deter the same misconduct from occurring again. Indeed, some children were either too stubborn or careless and earned subsequent spankings for treading on thin behavioral ice; however, this form of punishment was practically universal in its ability to teach children about wrong and right. Today, however, spanking is listed as corporal punishment and can send a parent or caregiver to jail. The climate of child discipline has become so hot that there is no middle ground where advocates and critics reside; you are either a heathen for laying a hand on your child or you are a spineless parent for failing to control inappropriate behavior.

Both Sides

Cited as both a humane, successful approach and a most barbaric, outdated method for disciplining children is spanking. As a viable form of punishment it continues to ride the wave of ever-changing public opinion. Proponents argue how the severity of the spanking makes all the difference as to whether the child will experience residual emotional trauma from the corporal punishment. Opponents, however, say that any type of hands-on striking of any force serves to send the child the wrong message about reprimand. While spanking advocates have support of many child-rearing authorities who acknowledge that administering discipline by way of a few swats on the behind does not cause irreparable emotional distress, the crux of the debate revolves around accusations of how opponents are erroneously swayed by broad-brush, questionable research that provide no tangible proof of its dangers. The combination of parental encouragement and consistent, constructive discipline, say critics, provides a basis upon which children can learn the difference between what is allowed and what is not without the negative impact of guilt and shame. If this is not the scenario into which children are raised, they argue, and instead receive all their discipline by way of corporal punishment (spanking), they are prone to developing aggressive, antisocial patterns that revolve around such negativity.

Research for the Benefits of Spanking

An examination of a compilation of seventy studies that were conducted between the nearly forty-year period between 1961 and 2000 involving nearly forty-eight thousand American respondents were unanimous in their findings that "exposure to corporal punishment does not substantially increase the risk to youth of developing affective, cognitive, or behavioral pathologies"(Paolucci et al, 2004, p. 197). Interestingly, no impact was realized with such variables as gender, age of first spanking, frequency, socioeconomic status, relationship to spanker or the technique used (Paolucci et al, 2004). The overwhelming strength of this research was its expansive composition in length and number of respondents whereby changes in attitudes during those decades (or lack thereof) were easily charted. No weaknesses were immediately detected. At the same time Slade et al (2004) reported how white non-Hispanic children encountered a substantial level of behavioral issues, the study also illustrated how black and Hispanic children who were spanked experienced none of the same behavioral or emotional problems as did their white non-Hispanic counterparts, clearly illustrating how the cultural impact of corporal punishment differs. In other words when spanking is a traditional and expected form of discipline; what makes a significant difference in how the child processes the experience. The strength of this study is based upon the ability to draw definitive conclusions where culture, expectation and acceptance play a role in spanking. No weaknesses were immediately detected.

Research against the Benefits of Spanking

A study conducted by Landsford et al (2005) focused upon the cultural approach to spanking and the impact, emphasizing on the impact of a child's emotional stability. Utilizing three hundred thirty-six pairs of mothers (ages 20-59) and children (ages 6-17) from China, India, Italy, Kenya, the Philippines and Thailand, the study discovered that physical discipline was not as much connected to adverse child outcomes where there was a higher instance of perceived normativeness, however, "physical discipline was also associated with more adverse outcomes regardless of its perceived normativeness" (Landsford et al, 2005, p. 1234). Moreover, a lower scale of physical discipline was found in those countries that demonstrated the most powerful connection with the mother's application and the child's behavior, yet every country where spanking was used to the extreme exhibited a clear associated between higher aggression and anxiety (Landsford et al, 2005). The strength of this study is the clarity it provides between appropriate spanking and spanking that turns into a more physically abusive tactic. No weaknesses were immediately detected.

Slade et al (2004) sought to determine whether the age of children makes a difference in their behavioral and emotional development when spanking is the applied form of discipline. Examining the association between frequent spanking prior to two years of age and any subsequent behavioral problems that develop in preschool, the authors; who followed the progress of nearly two thousand infant-to-23 months respondents and followed up four years later; made similar discoveries as Landsford et al (2005)in that white non-Hispanic children were recipients to many more spanking incidents prior to age two and, therefore, exhibited greater behavioral problems as they embarked upon their initial school year. Hispanic and black children, by comparison, displayed negligible association between spanking frequency and behavior problems, which the authors deemed "were not statistically significant and were not consistent across outcome measures" (Slade et al, 2004, p. 1321). Establishing the stage at which spanking is deemed most harmful to a child's psychological makeup is the most significant strength. No weaknesses were immediately detected. Parents who use spanking as a method of severe punishment rather than the flat-handed slap it is intended to be represent a population of emotionally confused children whose only defense against such treatment is to become antisocial themselves. Abusive parents are anything but comforting and supportive; as such, the process of bonding is all but absent from the equation, which then