When parents spank their children, they’ll often tell them, "This hurts me more than it hurts you." But a new study says that’s not true.
A University of Texas at Austin and University of Michigan study confirmed what child psychologists have been saying for years: Spanking is bad for children.
Researchers looked at 50 years of data from 75 different studies involving more than 160,000 children and determined that spanking children makes them more likely to act up again.
Those children also tend to struggle with antisocial behavior, mental health issues and determining right from wrong later in life. Study author Elizabeth Gershoff said the effects were similar to those in children who suffered physical abuse.
The study focused only on open-hand spanking and ignored more serious forms of corporal punishment and abuse, but the effects on children from each were similar.
"We as a society think of spanking and physical abuse as distinct behaviors. Yet our research shows that spanking is linked with the same negative child outcomes as abuse, just to a slightly lesser degree," Gershoff said.
Nearly half of American parents admitted to spanking their children in 2015. According to UNICEF, that number is virtually the same worldwide.
Experts say a better strategy is to put children in time-out so both the child and the parents have a chance to calm down.
About the Author
