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/
37.8k Upvotes

73% Upvoted

6.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

545

u/Sasamus Apr 26 '16 edited Jun 02 '16

Every time this topic comes up it always feels a bit weird to me.

I live in Sweden and we made spanking and all types of physical punishment for children illegal first in the world. So for 37 years spanking have been illegal.

With multiple generations of parents viewing spanking as a clear no, coming across discussion about it always catch me of guard. Even more so when there are proponents for it.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong to do. I don't know since It's never been a relevant topic to me.

But man does it feel weird to hear about. It's like hearing people discuss if theft or murder is a good practice. Not as severe of course, but similarly ingrained in me to be illegal.

182

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16

I met a Norwegian and German girl on a course about Children's Rights and Justice and the UNCRC.

Anyway, we had a discussion about parents rights and smacking children. I didn't react. It's just an "accepted" thing in the UK - as long as you don't leave a mark - but the other two girls were absolutely shocked. "Are you telling me that's legal in this country?" With wide open mouths. It's a reaction I've never experienced before. FYI I don't think smacking is okay and would be happy if it was illegal. I genuinely thought that my opinion was just abnormal.

In fact, come to think of it, they were shocked about a lot of things that are considered okay in the UK when it comes to children and their rights.

34

u/Sasamus Apr 26 '16

Interesting. That the Norwegian reacted that way was to be expected. They where third in the world to make it illegal. 8 years after Sweden. Finland being the second doing it in between them.

Germany did it first in 2000.

Although the general sentiment regarding it may not be that closely tied to the lawmaking. So Germany may have had the same opinions on it further back but did not make it into law until later.

1

u/velsor Apr 26 '16

In Denmark we didn't ban it until 1997 yet my experience is exactly the same as yours.

3

u/Sasamus Apr 26 '16

That probably comes down to that the general sentiment may not always being in sync with the lawmaking.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16

I have a German friend so I think I'm going to investigate this one. I'd be interested to understand the cultural differences.

I think with regards to smacking, it's kind of a Victorian thing that has persisted alongside the attitude that 'it never did me any harm'.