Spanking's Negative Effects On Children

“ Surveys suggest that nearly half of U.S. parents have spanked their children as a disciplinary tactic...”(“What Science Says…”). Bell hooks claims that spanking and love cannot coexist. Despite what many people seem to think, she’s right, spanking actually has more negative outcomes than positive. Spanking a child can result in damage to the child in many more ways than just physical. For instance, frequent spanks often develop a distant relationship between child and parent, increased risk delinquency, cause confusion to the child, and will ruin the child’s mental health.

Spanking increases aggression in children. “‘Spanking models aggression as a way of solving problems, that you can hit people and get what you want’”(“Study Links

Spanking…”). In a study in which was used determine if there was any type of correlation between corporal punishment on three year-olds and aggressive behavior later on. The study consisted of 2401 participants and was done in the years of 1998 to 2005. Researchers found that frequent uses of corporal punishment used upon three year-old increased the risk of high levels of aggression in five year-olds. They concluded that despite what people may believe, the findings of this experiment show that even just scant uses of corporal punishment, which includes spanking, can increases the levels of aggression in children.(“Mothers’ Spanking of 3-Year-Old…”) The reason for this is likely due to constant adrenaline output. “Adrenalin output increases sharply during fear, anger and physical punishment. When this is prolonged or often repeated, the endocrine balance fails to return to baseline. The victim becomes easily angered and prone to poor impulse control and spontaneous violent outbursts”(“The Influence of Corporal…”). More issues and conflict will occur if an individual’s aggression is triggered easily.

If someone is angered easily and becomes violent frequently, they are at a higher risk of performing acts of crime, including very serious crimes like murder and driving under the influence.

In the article “The Influence of Corporal Punishment on Crime” posted on “The Natural Child Project”, Adah Maurer, Ph.D. and James S. Wallerstein present a study which shows how corporal punishment on children affects the choices they make later in life, whether it be the length of education or choices that put them in prison, by surveying numerous people and displaying the results in a chart. The study showed the severity- never, rare, moderate, severe, and extreme- of corporal punishment used on each person that fell into the categories of violent inmates at San Quentin, juvenile delinquents, high school drop-outs, college freshman, and professionals. One-hundred percent of violent inmates responded with extreme corporal punishment and over half of the juvenile delinquents responded with extreme corporal punishment. Majority of professionals, on the other hand, responded with rare corporal punishment. (“The Influences of Corporal…”) This data shows a positive correlation between corporal punishment and unlawful behavior; more illicit behavior is shown the more a child is physically

disciplined.

“... a new study in Pediatrics, which finds that harsh physical punishment increases the risk of mental disorders — even when the punishment doesn’t stoop to the level of actual abuse”(“Hitting Your Kids…”). In a study, done by Tracie Afifi and her collegues, over 20,000 people in the United States, 20 years of age and older, were analyzed. They were exploring the amount of people who were physically disciplined, meaning those who had experienced pushing, grabbing, shoving, slapping and hitting, as well as the frequency of these occurrences. After examining the results and adjusting the aspects which could affect the uses of physical punishment, the researchers concluded that the risk of developing a mood disorder, such as mania and depression, were 1.5 times greater in those who experienced slapping and grabbing than those who weren’t. Furthermore, individual were 1.4 times more likely to develop anxiety or depression. According to the study, those who were physically punished were 1.6 times more likely to abuse alcohol and 1.5 times more likely to overuse drugs.(“Hitting Your Kids…”) Approximately, 26.2 percent of Americans already suffer from mental illnesses.(“Mental Disorders in…”) Can you imagine how much we could decrease that percentage if we were to illegalize the use of corporal punishment?

In conclusion, all parents’ goal for their children is the same, right? The shared goal is to raise a happy, functional, and successful adult. Bell hooks is absolutely correct when she claims that love and corporal punishment cannot go hand in hand. A parent who truly loves their child will not put them at risk for mental disorders, or increased aggression, and surely wouldn’t wish to increase their child’s chances of ending up in prison.