Corporal Punishment and Spanking in children

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Corporal Punishment and Spanking in children

Spanking and the use of Corporal Punishment are the most common forms of punishment used today for younger children. 67% of parents today use some form of corporal or physical punishment. Spanking and Corporal Punishment is the use of physical force to cause pain with the intent to control the child. Mothers are primarily the ones to spank, because they are the ones who are with the children more. Young parental age and lower income seem to predict spanking in children. Children that were spanked as a child are more likely to repeat the pattern whenever they have children. Spanking is thought to help control children but research from numerous studies show that this is not the case. Children who were spanked more are more likely to misbehave in school, have behavioral problems and start using drugs. Spanking and the use of Corporal Punishment is a huge debate among the child development field. Most parents support that spanking is ok, while researchers who study the effects of spanking suggest that spanking has some negative effects on children. Spanking and the use of Corporal Punishment should be if at all possible steered away from because it causes too many negative effects on children and on their development. If it is at possible one should find other ways to discipline their children instead of using physical punishment.

Researcher’s view of Spanking

Wendy Walsh (2002) states that spanking in severe forms can lead to antisocial behavioral outcomes in children. Children who are spanked in my opinion seemed to have this type of behavior especially if I knew that they had been spanked frequently and severely. McCord (1996) suggests that physical punishment gives ...

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...e & Lawrence Wissow (2004) they found that spanking before the age of two was a predictor of behavior problems in school age children, but this was only found on non-Hispanic white children. Non-Hispanic White Children who were spanked more than 5 times per week had a greater risk of developing behavior problems that required their parents to meet the teachers (Slade & Wissow, 2004). In the same study Slade & Wissow suggest that infants and toddlers do not have the capacity because they have not developed stress. (2004). I can see how this is the case because very young infants and toddlers brains have not developed enough to understand why it is that they are being spanked. It is always sad to hear about a child under the age of two being spanked when all you have to do for infants is take care of their needs and for toddlers redirect their behavior.

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