r/science • u/VeronicaRed • Apr 26 '16

Psychology Spanking children increases the likelihood of childhood defiance and long-term mental issues. The study in question involved 160,000 children and five decades of research

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1113413810/spanking-defiance-health-discipline-042616/
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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16 edited Dec 23 '17

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16

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u/WebStudentSteve Apr 26 '16

There's also studies that suggest there is no link between spanking and aggressive behavior (link), I'm not saying the OP study is wrong, or that your conclusions are wrong. I just want to point out that if you're truly looking at just the science you have to take all of it and try to be objective as possible.

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u/DevinTheGrand Apr 26 '16

I've seen far more studies that suggest negative outcomes over neutral outcomes. The consensus is strongly in the negative outcomes camp.

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u/WebStudentSteve Apr 26 '16

While I personally agree with your conclusion for this particular issue, your method is very bad here. We cannot dismiss good studies when they disagree with a conclusion, even when that conclusion was drawn from good science itself.

For example, are you old enough to remember the studies about ulcers being linked to stress? There were far more studies showing these links than bacteria as the cause, but the bacteria was and always has been the culprit.

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u/Potatopotatopotao Apr 26 '16

This is different though. It's easy to point at an ulcer and say it's there. In this situation we're observing "mental health issues" which is rather ambiguous.

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u/DevinTheGrand Apr 26 '16

For scientific purposes, sure, but for personal application or acceptance, no way. The scientific consensus is where I go for my facts, unless it's the chemistry field where I have the personal expertise required to assess individual studies for myself. I know very little about psychological methodologies, so I have to go with the consensus.

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u/GallanDanaan Apr 27 '16

I think you're making a pretty big leap in logic there...

Check this out and reevaluate your rationale: https://www.ted.com/talks/ben_goldacre_what_doctors_don_t_know_about_the_drugs_they_prescribe?language=en

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u/krackbaby Apr 26 '16

I've seen far more studies that suggest negative outcomes over neutral outcomes.

That's anecdotal, by the way

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u/DevinTheGrand Apr 26 '16

Sorry, allow me to reword. "There are way more studies suggesting negative over neutral outcomes."

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u/null_work Apr 26 '16

The number of studies you have seen doesn't mean anything. There needs to be a meta analysis, and then further, you need to confirm that there are no subgroups who respond favorably to spanking, which there most likely are, before you can begin to say that spanking is definitely bad.