Effects of Corporal Punishment on Children When Used in the Home Discussion about corporal punishment is everywhere. It is in the news and in the home, and in education on what is punishment and what is abuse is beginning to rise. Corporal punishment has been used as a disciplinary tool for parents throughout all of America's history (Gershoff, 2002, p. 1). However, the definition of what corporal punishment actually is, is still unclear to some people and parents. In Wendy Walsh's essay, "Spanker and Nonspankers: Where They Get Information on Spanking," she defines corporal punishment as "the use of physical force with the intention of causing a child to experience pain, but not injury, for purposes of correction or control of the …show more content…
Also, as previously stated, behavioral compliance is only a short term fix for the problem, which means that corporal punishment will continually be necessary to stop unwanted behaviors or actions from occurring. Frequently using corporal punishment, such as spanking, to stop unwanted behaviors inflicts pain on children and may teach them that it is all right to cause other people pain (Walsh, 2002). There have also been a number of psychological and social problems associated with corporal punishments from parents. These problems range from physical aggression to delinquency, depression, and other antisocial behaviors (Walsh, 2002). Walsh also states that corporal punishment is an ineffective child behavior management tool due to its potentially harmful effects. She says her research "indicates that spankings may work against what parents are trying to achieve" (2002, p. 82). Her findings seemed to specify that there were more incidents with child aggression and maladaptive behaviors where corporal punishment was used as discipline. Another negative effect of corporal punishment is the parent-child relationship. Not only can corporal punishment (remember this can consist of slaps on the hand or leg, spanking on the buttocks, pinching, shaking, hitting on the buttocks with a belt or paddle and slapping in the face)
Child discipline is an important part of parenthood. It is challenging for adults to manage children’s behaviors and find the correct lessons that will benefit their children. According to the research performed by Flynn (1998), most parents in the United States agree that "it is sometimes necessary to discipline a child with a good, hard spanking" (p.26). Socolar et al. performed research which agreed that “corporal punishment of children persists—roughly fifty percent of the parents of toddlers in the United States use corporal punishment as a regular method of disciplining their children.” (as cited in Gershoff, 2010, p.32). That is not to say that physical punishment is the solution as it can stop a behavior immediately but the results
They claim that spanking only teaches the child to fear their parents instead of respecting them. It can be dangerous because children will grow up thinking it's okay to hit other people to get their way, which is what parents do. Spanking can lead to violent behaviors later in their lives. "Corporal punishment is of limited effectiveness and has potentially deleterious side effects," American Academy of Pediatrics has said in a policy statement. In a 2002 study, published in the Psychology Bulletin, said that even though corporal punishment can make a child obey their parents in the short run, it can also be the link to long-term problems such as mental disorders and behavioral
There are many different ways to disciplining a child and corporal punishment is one of the main ones. Corporal punishment means the intention of giving pain to the body for purposes of punishment and it includes pinching, shaking, hitting with objects and forcing to stand for long time. Family researchers define corporal punishment as the use of physical force to cause children to experience pain but not injury for the purposes of correction and control of behavior. This essay is going to talk about how corporal punishment affect the child and parent relationship.
The main problem with spanking is that it may increase the child's belief that violence is a good way to solve problems and/or the spanking will instill the child with feelings of defiance and anger towards the administering person. (Duncan, 2007) I believe that effectual spanking would include proper education with love before and after the spanking for the purpose of clarifying the intent of the person who is spanking and the cooperation of the spanked child. The understanding of the context and reasoning of the parent is crucial for the child to grasp before an effective physical discipline session can be carried out.
Consistent use of corporal punishment has been an indicator of less effective parenting and is commonly linked to socialization out comes such as delinquency, low self-esteem, and social incompetence (Day 81).
Parents who use corporal punishment on a regular basis to discipline children run a higher risk of physically abusing their children (Gershoff.
Many studies have come out with negative effects that can come about from using many forms of corporal punishment. As parents we need to ask ourselves are we able to control ourselves when we are upset at our kids? Are we able to be fair to our kids? Can the things we do to our children come back and turn out to be used against us and others? “Corporal punishment
Spanking can make a child become more open to violent and depression behavioral, leading to them failing in the future. Jim Sims-Giles author of the “Child, maternal, and family characteristics associated with spanking” stated that spanking can have a long term and short term side effect. “ Having been spanked as a child and/or adolescent is related to later psychological problems including an increased chance of being depressed and thinking about suicide (Straus, in press), becoming violent and delinquent (Straus, 1991), and experiencing alienation and lower economic achievement.” Physical discipline can have an emotional effect on a child opening them up to become depress or turn to violence for relief. Spanking also can have a long term effect on a child’s memory. The article “Child, maternal, and family characteristics associated with spanking” stat that many adults can remember a time they
According to Parenting Article by Dr. Phil, “Long-term consequences of spanking can include increased aggressiveness, antisocial behavior, and delinquency.” According to Elizabeth Landau article from CNN, “A new study of more than 2,500 toddlers from low income families found that spanking may have detrimental effects on behavior and mental development.” According to the American Psychological Association, written by Brendan Smith, Many studies show that physical punishment in a child, consist of spanking, lashing and causing pain escalates anti-social behavior, hostility, and mental health problem s for
Over the years, the use of corporal punishment or physical punishment, which is also known as spanking, has been argued and debated upon. Children need to be disciplined and though there are different forms of discipline, sometimes all a child needs is a little spanking to set them straight. Corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offense, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behavior deemed unacceptable.
When a man is unpleased with something his spouse says or does and he hits her, our society labels it as abuse. If a mother hits her child our society labels it as spanking. Whichever terminology is used to help define corporal punishment, it all means the same. The very idea of physical discipline is based on an adult using his or her larger physique and power to intimidate and force someone much smaller and weaker into a state of compliance (Rathis, 2007). In the western culture, they publically frown at people who use their physical power to dominate someone smaller, yet when it comes to their children they take a pass, turn their heads, and call it spanking (Ray, 2008). It is hard to understand why society continues to argue the
The world has changed in many different ways, but there are still things that need to be changed for the better. Corporal punishment is one of those things. All around the world, corporal punishment is affecting children in many ways. It is described as a form of discipline that hurts a child in a way and is used both in homes and schools. It has been going on for years upon years and very few people try to stop it. People believe corporal punishment is good for children, but there have been so many negative outcomes that other people argue against it. Although some people believe that corporal punishment helps improve a child’s behavior, corporal punishment should not be used because it could be used excessively and it is ineffective.
Corporal punishment is often seen as ineffective and as having negative results in children’s development including developing of aggressive behaviors, harming parent-child relationships, and damaging
Discipline is one of the basic things a child learns from his parents before he or she faces the outside world to learn more about life as a whole. Teaching this trait can depend on how the parent shows it to their child and how they explain the importance of having this trait both in and out of their homes. Misbehaving children cannot be avoided as they are curious little beings and they have a tendency to explore. But there are some parents, even teachers, who do not tolerate misbehaving and they resort to corporal punishments such as spanking to make sure the child never forgets how painful it is to misbehave as they will remember the punishment entailed to it and become more disciplined. However, not all children would understand the
Aside from the long-term effects corporal punishment has on children there are some short-term ones as well, although they may go away when the child grows up they can be prevented if parents reduce the use of spanking and hitting their children. Children raised in a strict household have the tendency to see aggression as a way of dealing with problems, if their parents hit them to get them to “behave” they go and do that to other kids, some children hit other children in school or even family members because children learn what they see their parents model and they go and do it to other people. If a parent uses spanking their child as a way to get them to behave the child sees this as being right, they ultimately become bullies to other children. They hit other children because they don’t know how to distinguish the difference between aggression towards misbehaviour and just aggression in general. Studies have shown that children raised with physical aggression use physical aggression upon others ”research, as well as public discussion, has centered on the influence of physical discipline leading to aggressive behavior problems via social learning” (Rodriguez 810), it’s just what they know to do, a child raised with parents who don’t use corporal punishment don’t have it in their system that hitting others is right. “Monkey see monkey do,” that is the case for these children, they see their parents use harsh discipline so they go around doing the same, if parents were to