Corporal punishment is a method used to discipline someone by using physical force to inflict pain. Many parents are guilty of using physical force to discipline their children at least once in a child’s lifetime. Sometimes parents can get so caught up in being angry with the child that all they can think about is hitting the child to get the child to listen to them. This, however, may not be the best way to discipline a child. This essay will discuss the parenting styles that use corporal punishment, the negative effects of corporal punishment on children, how parents model the use of corporal punishment to their children, and how parents can positively discipline their children without using physical force.
There are many reasons why parents may use corporal punishment when disciplining a child instead of using other forms of discipline. Many parents who use corporal punishment are more likely to be unmarried, have more than one child fewer financial resources, and to report lower education attainment (Simons & Wurtele, 2010). All these factors can contribute to the use of physical punishment because they may not only add stress on the parents, but also since the parents do not have a higher education , they may not realize that there are other ways to punish a child or get them to listen without using physical force. Lee, Perron, Taylor, and Guterman (2011) suggested that parental stress, heavy alcohol use, and drug use are associated with increased use of corporal punishment. Not only is this because all these factors contribute to impulsive behaviors but also because drugs can lead to substance use disorders and can cause much parental stress. Many people who get drunk or use drugs may become so caught up in...
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Fletcher, A. C., Walls, J. K., Cook, E. C., Madison, K. J., & Bridges, T. H. (2008). Parenting style as a moderator of associations between maternal disciplinary strategies and child well-being. Journal of Family Issues, 29(12), 1724-1744. doi:10.1177/0192513X08322
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Lee, S. J., Perron, B. E., Taylor, C. A., & Guterman, N. B. (2011). Paternal psychosocial characteristics and corporal punishment of their 3-year-old children. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26(1), 71-87. doi:10.1177/0886260510362888
Patterson, Charlotte. Infancy & Childhood. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009. Print
Simons, D. A., & Wurtele, S. K. (2010). Relationships between parents’ use of corporal punishment and their children's endorsement of spanking and hitting other children. Child
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Swat! The entire store tries not to stare at the overwhelmed mother spanking her three-year-old whaling son. As if the screaming tantrum wasn't enough of a side show at the supermarket. This method, or technique perhaps, has been around for decades, even centuries. Generations have sat on grandpa’s lap and listened to the stories of picking their own switch or getting the belt after pulling off a devilish trick. So why then has it become a major controversy in the past few decades? The newest claim is that spanking and other forms of physical punishment can lead to increased aggression, antisocial behavior, physical injury and mental health problems for children. Brendan L. Smith uses many case studies and psychologists findings in his article “The Case Against Spanking” to suggest that parents refrain from physically punishing their children due to lasting harmful effects.
Corporal punishment is considered as an act of violence against children, and it includes any use of physical punishment in response to misbehavior. Corporal punishment has been associated with child abuse, aggression, delinquency, moral internalisation, antisocial behavior, mental health, and perpetration of the spouse and child abuse. This study explored the trends in corporal punishment among the three to eleven year old children due to they are the group age that is most likely to be subjected to corporal punishment
Elrod and Ryder (2011) state that child physical abuse is rather more specific than any other kind of “discipline”. There is a difference between spanking and child physical abuse, and that child physical abuse is more of a degree, not kind. There is no specific estimate of the exact role that child abuse and neglect plays in the United States, however, it is certain that there is a significant social problem in this area. Elrod and Ryder (2011) state that even mild forms of violence against children may encourage aggression and that physical abuse is strongly related to a variety of childhood adjustment problems. One of the major areas of childhood adjustment problems lies within the area of violent juvenile crime. Child physical abuse, aside from having physical injuries, affects the mental state of a c...
The use of spanking is one of the most controversial parenting practices and also one of the oldest, spanning throughout many generations. Spanking is a discipline method in which a supervising adult deliberately inflicts pain upon a child in response to a child’s unacceptable behaviour. Although spanking exists in nearly every country and family, its expression is heterogeneous. First of all the act of administering a spanking varies between families and cultures. As Gershoff (2002) pointed out, some parents plan when a spanking would be the most effective discipline whereas some parents spank impulsively (Holden, 2002). Parents also differ in their moods when delivering this controversial punishment, some parents are livid and others try and be loving and reason with the child. Another source of variation is the fact that spanking is often paired with other parenting behaviours such as, scolding, yelling, or perhaps raging and subsequently reasoning. A third source of variation concerns parental characteristics. Darling and Steinberg (1993) distinguished between the content of parental acts and the style in which it was administered (Holden, 2002). With all this variation researchers cannot definitively isolate the singular effects of spanking.
The term corporal punishment means the intentional infliction of pain on the body for purposes of punishment and includes slapping, hitting with objects, pinching, shaking and forcing to stand for long periods of time (Epoch 1). Family researchers define corporal punishment as " the use of physical force aimed at causing children to experience pain but not injury, for the purposes of correction and control of youthful behavior" (Day 83). Spanking is one form of physical or corporal punishment (Epoch 1).
Spanking teaches the child that violence is a socially accepted behavior to attain a desired result. To better understand this concept, we must first look at how a child’s brain works. From infancy, children learn through observation and imitation. Studies have shown that infants as young as forty-two minutes can successfully replicate simple facial expressions (Metzloff, Decety 492). By eight months, infants can imitate basic motor movement, even after twenty-four hours have passed since the initial movement occurred. At fourteen months, children can apply an imitation to an external situation up to a week after the initial imitation. (Windell, 67-68, 221). A famous example of this is Albert Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment. Christopher Green of York University helps interpret Bandura’s experiment and results: While acknowledging that certain children may have inherited aggressive personalities, Bandura demonstrated that the majority of personality is learned. Adult models were escorted to a room and shown various toys to play with while child observers watched from outside the room. Among the various toys was a clown “bobo” doll. In some “play” sessions, the models demonstrated aggression toward the doll by punching, kicking, hitting and yelling at it. In other sessions, the models quietly pla...
When describing a physical altercation between two adults, the term is assault and battery. Assault on an individual has more than immediate effects; the effects can last a lifetime in severe cases. In all fifty states, it is a crime to hit, strike or use corporal punishment in any deliberate manner towards any person over the age of eighteen. However, this law does not apply to physical force being used on minors. Spanking, whipping, and paddling are among a few common references to this form of punishment. Physically disciplining children has had many names over the years. No matter which term is used, corporal punishment has a negative impact on every party involved. It is a widely used, socially accepted method of discipline. “Approximately 94% of three and four-year old children have been spanked in the past year (Slade & Winssow 1321). Although spanking is a widespread practice, it is becoming more controversial. The negative effects of spanking greatly outweigh the benefits. Spanking is a socially tolerated view promoting abusive patterns, and has a negative psychological impact in teaching children that pain, fear, and confusion promote conformability.
If your family is like 90% of the population, then you have been disciplined using corporal punishment or have discipled your children with it. The topic of whether parents should use corporal punishment has been debated for years, and it is illegal in the United States to use physical punishment; however, each state’s law on corporal punishment varies and all allow some form of physical punishment. New studies greatly question whether corporal punishment should be used when discipling children. Parents or guardians should not be allowed to use corporal punishment because it causes anti-social behavior, it increases aggression, and it causes cognitive problems.
However, various risk factors have been linked to higher likelihoods of corporal punishment and child abuse. A study conducted by a team of researchers found, for example, that parents who had observed violence between their parents were more likely to hit their children. This was found to support another study that found that children who witnessed violence between their parents or caregivers were more likely to perceive violent behavior as appropriate or, even worse, learn it. Other findings in the aforementioned study included that parents were more likely to hit or beat their child if they: believed they were difficult to control; thought themselves to have poor coping skills or poor impulse control; are nonworking mothers; believed that hitting a child as a means to discipline was acceptable. Black et al. described physically abusive or neglectful parents as people with low self esteem, with an external locus of control (i.e., who believe that events are determined by chance or outside forces beyond one’s personal control), poor impulse control, depression, anxiety, and antisocial
There has been a misconception about how to properly discipline children due to secular views and flawed studies. Many of these so called “studies” have made “many experts believe that corporal punishment will likely lead to increased resistance or aggressive behavior from the child” ("Corporal Punishment." World Book Advanced). One study in particular “suggests that children who experienced harsh spanking (with objects or at a frequency of once a week or more with a hand) had significantly higher levels of mother-reported externalizing behavior at ages 6, 7, and 8 than did children who experienced no spanking or mild spanking at those ages, even controlling for prior externalizing behavior and other possible confounds.” ( Lansford ). However, aggressive behavior should be expected if a parent beats their child out of their own anger instead of a desire to better their child for the future. There are several other “studies” that claim to prove spanking increases negative behavior but they just lump them all together and say that all spanking in every form, regardless of it severity, is the same and creates worse children. “Any form of punishment, physical or otherwise, can have negative consequences if it is abused.”. (Green) If parents don’t discipline their children physically, they will ve...
This essay will discuss whether it is thought that punishment is effective and whether it is currently thought to work, additionally it will examine the best ways to change a child’s behaviour in terms of positive and negative reinforcements. The issue of child punishment has received considerable critical attention within many cultures. Punishment towards children can be argued to be a very controversial area. It is argued that many people have been brought up with distinctive beliefs about punishments toward a child. A child’s upbringing is argued by many researchers to be key to how they will go on to treat their own children in the future. This can surely be argued to be a negative effect of physical punishment. It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the effects of what severe punishment may have on a child. Later convictions of violence and the evidence of damaging effects on well-being, corporal punishment has on children is overwhelming. However, it is not ingrained that corporal punishment is definitely damaging. There is also sufficient evidence to corporal punishment being an effective form of discipline, if used appropriately. It is thought that corporal punishment helps parents retain control over their children’s behaviour. This essay will consider the various forms of punishment, such as physical punishments and whether they are considered to work. This is essay will also consider effective ways of changing a child’s behaviour including the use of classical and operant conditioning and studies that support the theories and how they can be applied to real life. Classical conditioning for example uses learning through association, memory prompts the person to associate an object/ sound to a certain behaviour. ...
Violence within families often reflects behaviours learned by children from their parents. A theory is that violent behaviour is passed down from generation to generation through families (Cole & Flanagin, Pg. 2). The majority of Americans are subjected to corporal punishment at one point or another during their lifetime(Kandel, Pg. 4). Surveys suggested that almost all American parents used physical punishment at one point or another and the punishment was regared as an appropriate child rearing technique. Another survey also suggested that some psychologists belive physical punishment to be an effective and useful socialization tool(Kandel, Pg. 2). Aggression is commonly conceived as existing on a continuum, ranging from very severe parental aggression to much milder and normal parental aggression, such as use of corporal or physical punishment(Kandel, Pg. 1). A common concern is that parental use of physical punishment will lead to aggressive behaviour in children.
...E. (2000). Child Outcomes of Nonabusive and Customary Physical Punishment by Parents: An Updated Literature Review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review. doi:10.1023/A:1026473020315.
“It hurts and it’s painful inside – it’s like breaking your bones; it’s loud and sore, and it stings; it feels like you’ve been adopted or something and you’re not part of their family; you feel like you don’t like your parents anymore; you feel upset because they are hurting you, and you love them so much, and then all of a sudden they hit you and you feel as though they don’t care about you” (Pritchard 9). These are the feelings of those juveniles who suffer from corporal punishment. Corporal punishment has been one of the main topics of research in Psychology in last few decades. Although people had believed, “Spare the rod and spoil the child” but in the present age of science, research has revealed that the corporal punishment causes more harm to the children instead of having a positive effect on them. According to UNICEF, “Corporal punishment is actually the use of physical measures that causes pain but no wounds, as a means of enforcing discipline” (1). It includes spanking, squeezing, slapping, pushing and hitting by hand or with some other instruments like belts etc. But it is different from physical abuse in which punishment result in wounds and the objective is different from teaching the discipline. Although Corporal punishment is considered to be a mode of teaching discipline and expeditious acquiescence, however, it leads to the disruption of parent-child relationship, poor mental health of juveniles, moral internalization along with their anti-social and aggressive behaviour and it is against the morality of humans.
Corporal punishment is the physical disciplinary method used by parents, teachers, and school administrators in an effort to correct a child’s undesirable behaviors. The use of physical force is one that is often times controversial and usually evokes very strong reactions. These feelings surface, and opposing views clash, when scandals surrounding corporal punishment hit the media and heated arguments in the comments section of articles emerge. While corporal punishment occasionally makes its way into the limelight, it is a decision all parents are faced with eventually and often times daily. For example, when a toddler is sprawled out on the grocery store floor kicking, hitting, and flinging