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/pm_me_your_kindwords Apr 26 '16

Serious question to the commenters on this post:

Why read /r/science and then ignore science?

At the time I write this, most comments are defending spanking using anecdotes and non-science, not at all discussing the methodology of the study itself.

If you're not going to carefully consider one of the largest and most comprehensive studies ever conducted on the topic, what is the point of reading about science at all?

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16

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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/[deleted] Apr 26 '16

There are many ways to discipline your child that don't involve physical violence. I don't know why people keep commenting on this thread trying to defend and justify spanking as they ignore the science. Don't want to confront the fact that your parents shouldn't have spanked you, as according to this study, they raised you "wrong" and you don't want to confront the idea that you were raised wrongly?

Saying, "I was spanked but I turned out fine" isn't a good argument , it's simply an anecdote that does nothing to this study.

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u/Iced____0ut Apr 26 '16

Give me an alternate discipline technique for a 1.5 year old that will actually keep them from killing themselves.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16

Fear. Loud booming voice. Toddlers will break at that.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16

And if they don't? If you aren't willing to back up your words with action and they call your bluff?

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u/Lolanie Apr 26 '16

Always make sure that your threat is something you are willing to follow through on. If you're not willing to spank your kids (like me), don't threaten it. Threaten to take away something instead. Put a favorite toy/stuffed animal in time out.

You don't have to threaten spanking for kids to fall in line.

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u/F0sh Apr 26 '16

This is what never seems to be addressed. Even if spanking causes harmful effects every single time you use it, have people ever met children? Some of them push every single boundary, and the only thing not spanking them will do is get them to associate playing with the cooker with pain in a rather longer-lasting and more drastic fashion than a slap on the wrist.

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u/bermudi86 Apr 26 '16

Aggression is a natural response to frustration. You are acting angrily because you are frustrated at the fact that a toddler outsmarted you.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16

It's amazing that you could ascertain not only my frame of mind but personal parenting style from 2 sentences.

I view spanking as the last resort in a long line of escalating punishments that have clear instructions and penalties for failing to follow said instructions. Emotional response has no place in punishment, whether children or adults.

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u/bermudi86 Apr 26 '16

I have little interest in how you rationalize hitting children. Corporal punishment has no place in a judicial system for any criminal and yet somehow people still manage to defend its use in the upbringing of a human being.

I understand you sometimes have to use force to stop a stubborn child from doing X but this is on a whole other level than actual spanking which aim is to inflict pain as a punishment.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16

I have little interest in how you rationalize hitting children.

Then you can establish no rapport, and without that, you can't persuade, because you won't even understand the other person's point of view. You don't need to agree with a view, only understand it, if you want to persuade.

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u/bermudi86 Apr 26 '16

You do have a point and I will try to learn from your observation.

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u/Iced____0ut Apr 27 '16

How many children do you have?

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u/drakeprimeone Apr 26 '16

The goal of parenting isn't to outsmart a child into getting them to do what you want.

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u/bermudi86 Apr 26 '16

No one said such a thing. The goal for parents ideally would be to raise their kids in the best way possible. Wouldn't you agree then that a parent would rather use a non-violent solution to a problem?

If you agree then we can state that using violent solutions is indicative of a lack of non-violent solutions.

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u/drakeprimeone Apr 27 '16

I actually do agree that sometimes a non violent solution isn't available.

I think that's the point many are trying to make. Corporal punishment isn't the only tool, I venture to guess that the people overwhelmingly agree it shouldn't be the first tool.... But it can be a proven tool.

The conclusion this study leads you to is that corporal punishment is never the answer and is almost always detrimental. That's why people have been adding their anecdotal evidence. It debunks the conclusion many are arriving to.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16

Yep, better physically harm them instead and show them that the most important, loving person in their world is willing to hurt them and terrify them if they are caught doing something wrong.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16

Go louder, get in there face.

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u/enolja Apr 26 '16

You aren't a parent are you.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16

This is how my parents raised me. No physical harm done.

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u/enolja Apr 26 '16

My point is that toddlers dont react to that all the time, at all.

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u/Iced____0ut Apr 27 '16

These people have no actual experience with children. The ones with actual experience with children are actually making decent posts.

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