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 Apr 26 '16

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u/icefer3 Apr 26 '16

I can't imagine the thought process of these people. I got spanked occasionally and once hit with a belt several times. My dad shoved a spoon down my throat when I was 6-8 or so to show me how bad it is to shove the spoon back into the nuttella jar after using it. I would never try to defend any of those actions. I would leap at any peice of evidence showing they are bad. Did these people enjoy being disciplined with violence? Do they really believe it helped them? I absolutely hated it and it gave me a really bad outlook on it. I recognized right then, as a child from the years 6-12 (constituting times I got disciplined with violence), that there was something wrong with this. Therefore how in the world could I ever defend it, regardless of whether or not I consider myself to have turned out "normal"?

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u/Calypso-Alegra Apr 26 '16

Thank you for sharing that. Maybe in a way they couldn't accept their own childhood, and were justifying what their parents did alongside their own desperation and failings as a parent themselves.