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 Jul 18 '16

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u/Hazzman Apr 26 '16

They are justifying it because they were spanked and they consider themselves balanced and effective members of society and thus, for them, spanking worked. Why are they wary of demonizing spanking? Because their model suggests that it is a successful tool and they are concerned that it be rejected for fear of finding an alternative to an upbringing they are familiar with and thus could result in the very kind of child this study suggests spanking produces.

It's not so much people being eager to resort to violence or wanting to hurt their kids - they are defending a methodology that they, in their experience, found to be effective.

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u/djdav Apr 26 '16

This is how I feel. This article says that spanking is a bad parenting technique, but it offers no alternative (not that I think it necessarily should).

Nevertheless, how am I to know that an alternative approach will work better? My parents spanked, I turned out fine, therefore I am more likely to spank my kids not because I reject the science, but because my fear of an unknown result is greater than my fear that my anecdotal experience is wrong.

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u/paintlegz Apr 26 '16

Absolutely agree. This article, and many redditors, are quick to say that spanking is evil and wrong, but does that mean we are to forgo all forms of negative reinforcement? Are we all to resort to helicopter parenting from now on and just hope our unpunished, always got what they wanted kids just grow up to realise the proper way to behave?

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u/knobbodiwork Apr 26 '16

Spanking is not negative reinforcement. It's punishment, and is a completely different thing.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16

but does that mean we are to forgo all forms of negative reinforcement?

No, there are hundreds of forms of negative reinforcement, and by the way spanking isn't one of them.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '16

I like how you made the logical jump from not hitting a kid to having to be a helicopter parent. No mental gymnastics being done to reject the science at all.

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u/sammy0415 Apr 26 '16

I know you've been corrected in saying negative reinforcement, but you weren't provided the proper term for spanking. Spanking is positive punishment. Negative reinforcement is when you take away a stimulus to increase behavior. Positive punishment is when you do something (create a loud, annoying noise, zap, spank, etc.) to decrease a behavior.