Position Statement On Physical Punishment

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According to Position Statement on Physical/Corporal Punishment, studies show that approximately 65% of adults in the United States approve of physical punishment and about 50% of families use physical punishment to discipline children. However, physical punishment is still not banned in the United States, but public approval has been gradually declining over the years.
Since the start of recorded history, caregivers have used physical punishment as a common discipline practice. Discipline has been one of the hardest and biggest problems all caregivers have to deal with. In other words many do not know how to approach the idea and simply use the methods they grew up with that their own parents’ used, like spanking, hitting, and etc. Caregivers’ that use physical punishment believe that children learn between what is wrong and what is right. Physical punishment is believed to be effective, and is shown by research that it works in short terms. For those who use physical punishments believe in the common saying is, …show more content…

Long term self-esteem issues can create problems like avoiding taking risks to experience new opportunities. Avoiding those opportunities can keep one from furthering in school, a future career or even close relationships. Relationships become hard to develop with peers and family members, due to isolating one’s self or acting out in aggression towards others. Victims of physical punishment often cannot distinguish between feelings of trust and mistrust towards others to form intimate or professional relationships. PhD Elizabeth T. Gershoff predicts that those who received physical punishment as a child are more likely to be abusive towards their own children or manifest in criminal behavior (qtd. in Position Statement on Physical/Corporal Punishment). Therefore the harm of physical punishment goes deeper than the tears and tender red skin that

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