New research published in the journal BMJ Open and first reported on by NPR found that among the 54 countries or territories that have banned corporal punishment of children, many have experienced a reduction in youth violence.
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"The association appears to be fairly robust," Frank Elgar, study author and associate professor at McGill University's Institute for Health and Social Policy, told NPR. In fact, the 30 countries that have passed laws banning such punishment in schools or in homes have significantly lower rates of fighting among adolescent — 69 percent for males and 42 percent for females — compared to the 20 countries with no such bans.
Countries with partial bans in schools only (including the United States) had 56 percent lower rates of physical fighting among adolescent females compared to the 20 countries with no bans, but there was no significant change among males.
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It’s unclear why the gender difference exists, researchers said.
“It could be that males, compared with females, experience more physical violence outside school settings or are affected differently by corporal punishment by teachers,” they wrote, urging future researchers to further examine the difference.
To measure physical fighting in these societies, researchers collected data from the World Health Organization’s Health Behaviour in School-aged children study and its Global School-based Health Survey. The surveys featured self-reported questionnaires from 403,604 students in 88 low- to high-income countries.
Students were asked questions about how often or whether they had been involved in a physical fight within the past 12 months.
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“Whether bans precipitated changes in child discipline or reflected a social milieu that inhibits youth violence remains unclear due to the study design and data limitations,” authors concluded in their report. “However, these results support the hypothesis that societies that prohibit the use of corporal punishment are less violent for youth to grow up in than societies that have not.”
Though the study features a large and diverse sample of countries, there are a few limitations to note.
Researchers pointed out that in many countries, laws restricting or banning corporal punishment were either tabled, amended or passed around the time school surveys measuring fighting were measured. Another important limitation is the lack of information on corporal punishment use by parents, educators and other adults. Researchers also noted that because of the ecological design of the study, causality can’t be inferred.
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“Moreover,” researchers concluded, “public health messaging must be clear that repealing laws that permit corporal punishment is not synonymous with an absence of child discipline. All children have the right to that does not endanger their well-being and respects their right to exist.”
The BMJ findings add to growing evidence suggesting corporal punishment has a significant influence on adolescent health and safety.
Elizabeth Gershoff, professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, has been researching the effects of physical punishment on children for 20 years. She and a colleague performed a meta-analysis of 50 years of research on spanking in 2016 and found that children who were spanked “were neither more compliant nor better behaved,” NPR reported.
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The American Psychological Association has also reported that despite the controversy, physical punishment, including spanking, "can lead to increased aggression, antisocial behavior, physical injury and mental health problems for children."
While Americans’ acceptance of physical punishment has declined since the 1960s, the APA reported, surveys show that two-thirds of the population still approves of parents spanking their children.
As of October 2018, 54 countries have achieved prohibition in all settings, according to the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children. Fifty-six others have committed to reforming laws to achieve a total ban.
In 1979, Sweden became the first country to ban the corporal punishment of children. This year, Nepal became the 54th.
Many have urged the United States to follow suit. While it’s illegal in many states for educators and school staff to spank children, there are no laws set in place prohibiting parents from spanking.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in April that Georgia is among the 23 states that allows some form of corporal punishment. A previous 2013 report found that corporal punishment was still used in more than half of Georgia's 180 school districts.
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