Originally Posted by
bassin_bug
I hope the following is the answer that you are looking for. There has been little data collected on spanking vs alternatives to spanking. My personal opinion is that people are hesitant to provide information because normal discipline is now being reported as abuse by angry children.
In the 1940's and 1950's Dr. Benjamin Spock convinced the nation that spanking children was not a good way to discipline them. He taught that bad behavior is really not your child's fault and that spanking teaches children to be violent through the use of violence (i.e. by the violence of spanking them.) He did not differentiate between spanking and explosive attacks of rage.
The reason I have been hesitant to even respond to your comments concerning me giving a definite answer is because one group of children involved in the studies of corporal punishment were autistic children. With apologies to them and their families I hereby submit the few scant statistics that I know of that have been released.
In a systematic review of peer-reviewed professional articles on spanking, the National Institute for Healthcare Research (NIHR, 2111 Wilson Blvd. Suite 1130, Arlington, VA 22201, ICISH) found that of 132 articles published in the 1980's, only 24 were actual quantitative studies, including a specified method, data or results. The rest were reviews or commentary. In other words, lots of opinion, little science.
Further, of the actual experimental studies, 90% lumped milder forms of spanking together with severe forms of physical abuse. Thus the results were automatically prejudiced. It is like saying house-cats and lions kill many people each year throughout the world.
The professional organizations taking a policy position on the topic, NIHR found, had not published any studies in their journals over the past decade, so that their decisions were evidently formed without the benefit of data. It then becomes a matter of science by peer pressure of majority vote.
On the contrary, for the few studies actually looking at the question, there was data supporting corporal punishment. R.E. Larzelere, in the Journal of Psychology & Theology Volume 21, Number 2, identified three contexts where spanking showed benefit: 1) disciplining autistic children. 2) employing mild spanking as a back-up for children ages 2 to 6. 3) coupling reasoning with a spanking to better reduce misbehavior in toddlers.
The kind of spanking being looked at was controlled and purposeful, not an angry outburst. The autistic children were in an intensive program. Aggressive or non-compliant behavior was dealt with by a sharp "no!" and occasional slap on the thigh. The children in this treatment group were able to mainstream 47% of the time compared with only 2% of those using alternative methods without corporal punishment.
A study of Pediatricians indicated that 70% believe spanking is acceptable in certain circumstances (Pediatric Management September 1993.) A phone survey in two Minnesota Counties by Murray Straus of the University of New Hampshire, indicated that 90% of parents practiced spanking, 75% of parents of toddlers in the past year.
I believe this data is flawed and is slanted in favor of corporal punishment because it didn't offer data that demonstrates the benefits where alternatives to spanking were used.
My final thoughts on this are that a parent should try other methods to correct bad behavior and should use spanking only as a last resort. If the parent has been negligent and allowed the bad behavior to continue until it causes them to go into a rage, don't lift a hand or an object and strike your child. Chances are good that it will turn into explosive rage and child abuse.
I was a victim of child abuse and was almost killed on one occasion when I was struck in the back and my kidney was ruptured. When I became an adult, I made myself a promise of NEVER AGAIN and that I would do my best to prevent others from suffering in the name of discipline. When I was 18 years old, my best friend's father started beating her with a belt over something she was not responsible for. He was in a rage and the more he beat her the madder he became. I stepped in between them, jerked his hand off her arm and said, "Don't hit her another time; lay the rest of her wounds on my back." He dropped the belt to the floor and walked out of the room.
So to answer your question, "Can we spank our kids or not?" If you are a person who is slow to anger and able to control your temper, my answer is "yes, but only as a last resort; keep in mind that it is a spanking to correct bad behavior and not a beating. No angry reflex slaps or punches...EVER. You should not spank your kids if you are a hot tempered person who cannot control his rage and uses beating as a means of venting your anger." I had one parent who spanked and one who beat me until the blood ran out. I have spanked my own child but ended up crying more than she did.
Have a great weekend. I am packing up and flying south for about a month.