Spanking is one of the most used practices all over the world for disciplining children who are pre schooled aged. Approximately 94% of children are spanked at least one in every year but spanking is not common in older children. In a research which was conducted by common wealth fund it indicated that 11 % of parents spank children who are between 6 to 11 months of age, 36 percent spank children who are between 12 to 17 months and 59 percent spank children who are between the ages of 18 to 23 months of age. Child spanking might have later effects like aggression and parents have very little thoughts that spanking might have as possible side effects.
The pediatricians have also given little attention about the possible effects that spanking may have. Children who are frequently spanked before they reach the age of two have a high chance of having significant behavior problem in four years to come. Research has indicated that spanking is associated with an increase in the probability of physical aggression and many other anti social behaviors (Giles-sims, J et al 1997).
Although spanking has beneficial effects on a child it has harmful effects on the future behavior of the child. Spanking is a violent act from the parents and parents should be taught the effect that it might have. Those children who have experienced spanking have a high chance of engaging in antisocial behavior than those children who have not been spanked in the past. This kind of children tends to abuse their spouses and also their children in the future. Such parents believe in then effectiveness of spanking and they believe that when a child is spanked, she or he is at fault in a given situation (Giles-sims, J et al 1997).
From this study it indicated that the probability of a child to be more aggressive while at the age of five increased by fifty percent. This study explains that those children at the age of five who had been spanked were more likely to demand immediate satisfaction, temper tantrums, they become frustrated very easily, disobedient and they would lash out physically against animals or other people than those who had not been spanked.
The reason for this kind of behavior according to the researchers is because spanking sets up a loop of behaviors that are bad because it tend to instill fear instead of understanding and it sets a bad example to the children because they think that aggressive behavior is a solution to the problems of their parents. Research indicates that parents who spank their children are likely to be younger, single, less educated, depressed and they are stressed. Spanking of children is common among those children who were spanked when they were young.
According to researchers (Giles-sims, J et al 1997), they claim that spanking have different effect on children with different ages. According to Lansford, J. 2010) if spanking is done in moderation it does not cause harmful effects but when spanking is done on teenagers, it tend to interfere with their transition to adulthood in development and autonomy. Spanking on children have a great effect on children because it happens during the critical stage of development.
When parents use spanking on children, there aim is to control misbehavior but research indicates that spanking increases misbehavior in children. It is important to note that it is not necessarily for spanking to lead to antisocial behavior, the same way as it is not necessarily for smoking to lead to death from a disease that is related to smoking.
The behavior problems that are associated with spanking are not confined to aggression and other types of anti social behavior by children and according to researchers (Lansford, J. 2010), when spanking is extended to early adolescents, it is normally associated with behavior problems in adults such as depression, physical abuse of children, physical assault on the spouse and other adult people and alienation. An instance of spanking in children of age 13 is associated with an increase by 53 % in the probability of the parent going beyond the spanking legal level and assaulting the child severely.
Despite having aggressive behaviors, spanking has other bad effects. Some of the effects that it has are that the child is likely going to fear the parents and it teaches the child not to trust the parent. The child is likely to hide some of the behaviors which are unacceptable and it also leads to lying and results to feelings such as shame, resentment, and anger. Many parents do not know if spanking a child is harmful or if it is beneficial. Therefore they do not know if the decision that they are making for spanking the child is the right decision or the wrong one (Lansford, J. 2010).
Most parents understand that spanking is of great benefit but they tend not to do so because they feel bad when they impose pain on their children. For this parents spanking evoke anxiety, self critical feelings and self doubt. Most parents do not understand when to use and not to use spanking, therefore harmful spanking should be avoided by helping the parents understand better about it.
The quality of the life of a family and the circumstances which lead to punishing a child, are influential on whether punishment involved spanking. Parents are supposed to understand that spanking is just a type of punishment and the real impact of punishment starts from how the parent is delivering it and the way a child will react to it and how he or she will perceive it (Lansford, J. 2010).
A good example to explain this statement is that in those families where there is hostility and conflict between the members of the family is seen as a persistent and prominent feature of life in the home, any sort of punishment can be an opportunity for strong emotions and unconstructive or a behavior that is generous. In these types of families, using physical punishment can potentially heighten the emotional strength of the punishment and it will make a child fear or feel resentful of a parent.
When a parent spanks his or her child, a verbal or physical indication from the parent should be shown, so that the child can feel loved by the parent through a kiss or a hug and explain that the spanking was as a result of the child violating the rules of the family and this is often enough to dispel any negative feelings which the child might have. From the many researches that researchers have done, my claim is that although spanking can result to better behavior it is harmful to the future outcome of the behavior of a child.
Spanking leads to violence
Scholars at table 1 prove analyze the relationship that exist between spanking, corporal punishment and violence in the society. According to Douglas (2006) he claims that spanking can lead to problem in the future. The problem that spanking can cause is behavioral problem such as delinquency and aggression and it can cause children to have depressive symptoms in children. Children are young to understand when the parenting style used is wrong therefore because of this, the physical violence can be passed down in the families because the people believe that the only parenting skills that they know are the behaviors which they saw while at home.
What spanking reinforce in the mind of the children is negative memories and parents are supposed to build happy memories of childhood to their kids. Corporal punishment tends to cause violence in the society and it increases antisocial behavior in children at the age when they are young and also when they are adults.
Corporal punishment is the act of imposing physical pain without injury on a child with the aim of correcting the behavior of the child. Douglas (2006) continues and explains that corporal punishment can also lead to violence among children and their spouses and those children who have been spanked before are likely to engage in anti social behaviors than those children who have not been spanked before. According to scholars they claim that spanking should be eliminated so as to prevent violence from occurring in the community (Douglas, M. 2006).
A research that was conducted by (Straus M 1996) explain that spanking is associated with an increased likelihood of societal violence and this is explained by an example of heavy smoking which does not guarantee lung cancer but it tend to increase the risk of death which is from diseases related to smoking. The scholars in table 1 are trying to discuss about how encouraging spanking and corporal punishment may lead to violence in the society. Research has indicated that spanking is associated with an increase in the probability of physical aggression and many other anti social behaviors (Straus M 1996).
Although spanking has beneficial effects on a child it has harmful effects on the future behavior of the child. The behavior problems that are associated with spanking are not confined to aggression and other types of anti social behavior by children and according to researchers (Straus M 1996), when spanking is extended to early adolescents, it is normally associated with behavior problems in adults such as depression, physical abuse of children, physical assault on the spouse and other adult people and alienation. An instance of spanking in children of age 13 is associated with an increase by 53 % in the probability of the parent going beyond the spanking legal level and assaulting the child severely.
Despite having aggressive behaviors, spanking has other bad effects. Some of the effects that it has are that the child is likely going to fear the parents and it teaches the child not to trust the parent. The child is likely to hide some of the behaviors which are unacceptable and it also leads to lying and results to feelings such as shame, resentment, and anger. From a study lead by community health science, the issues which affect the mother which led to spanking are depression; drug use, alcohol, and abuse from the spouse and this can lead to child’s aggression and because of this spanking has remained to be a strong predictor of behaviors that are violent (Mikulka, J. et al 2008).
From this study it indicated that the probability of a child to be more aggressive while at the age of five increased by fifty percent. This study explains that those children at the age of five who had been spanked were more likely to demand immediate satisfaction, temper tantrums, they become frustrated very easily, defiant and they would lash out physically against animals or other people than those who had not been spanked. The reason for this kind of behavior according to the researchers is because spanking sets up a loop of behaviors that are bad because it tend to instill fear instead of understanding and it sets a bad example to the children because they think that aggressive behavior is a solution to the problems of their parents.
Externalizing behaviors
A research conducted by scholars in table 2 determined the relationship that exists between externalizing behaviors, corporal punishment and the culture. In this research, the scholars were examining how race and ethnicity moderate externalizing behaviors. According to the results of these researchers, externalizing behaviors and using spanking in order to correct the behavior of a child differ in different cultures (Gershoff E, et al. 2012). This study show that spanking has minimal impact on the behavior of a child in those cultures where they considered it normal and it had a negative effect in those cultures that considered it as abnormal. From this research, spanking led to externalizing behaviors.
Reference
Douglas, M. (2006) Familial Violence Socialization in Childhood and Later Life Approval of Corporal Punishment. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 6. (1)
Leary, E., Kelly, L., Morrow, J. & Mikulka, J. (2008) Parental Use of Physical Punishment as Related to Family Environment, Psychological Well Being, and Personality in Undergraduates Journal of Family Violence, 23
Gershoff E, et al. (2012). Longitudinal Links Between Spanking and Children’s Externalizing Behaviors in a National Sample of White, Black, Hispanic and Asian American Families. Child Development. 83 (3)
Lansford, J. (2010). Corporal Punishment of Children in Nine Countries as a Function of Child Gender and Parent Gender. International Journal of Pediatrics
Straus M (1996). Spanking and the Making of a Violent Society. Pediatrics Journal. 98 (4)
Straus, A, Sugarman, B., & Giles-sims, J (1997). Spanking by Parents and Subsequent Antisocial Behavior of Children. Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine. 151
Laura, M., Erin, R., Nicole, C. (2007).Gender and Parent Gender. Journal of Family Violence.22. (4)
