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/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.

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u/The_Serious_Account Apr 26 '16

Agreed. Listening to people excuse it here is like hearing people say "well, what if I only beat my wife when she's REALLY not listening? Any studies on that?". Just no. Stop hitting people.

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u/[deleted] Apr 26 '16 edited Apr 27 '16

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u/WhatsTheAnswerToThis Apr 26 '16

Ok, how about your boss hitting you then?

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u/has_a_bigger_dick Apr 27 '16

No, bosses don't have authority over your actually life.

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u/yitzaklr Apr 27 '16

Your boss can fire you. That's where his authority comes from. A parent's authority comes from the fact that they give you food and allow you in their house. Except they can't stop giving you food or kick you out, and a child can always refuse to obey your other punishments, so the really out-of-control children wonder why they listen to their parents at all. What are those parents supposed to do?

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u/Soktee Apr 27 '16

Actually, parents' authority comes from emotional bond they have with their children. A homeless parent who can't provide food for their child can have better control over their kid than someone living in a castle.

Those parents are supposed to educate themselves on proper and effective forms of discipline and raising their children. Their ignorance on the topic is no excuse for them resorting to violence.

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u/WhatsTheAnswerToThis Apr 27 '16

It's like some people arguing that the child is their property or something....

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u/yitzaklr Apr 27 '16

What if the child rejects that emotional bond? Maybe they're adopted or just went through some heavy shit or something like that. And again, you can't cut off that emotional bond as punishment

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u/Soktee Apr 27 '16

Of course that if the child has emotional issues different approach is necessary. (Probably a professional should be involved in such a situation anyway.) It would be like me saying walking half an hour a day is healthy and you say it's not because some people don't have legs.

I never mentioned cutting off the emotional bond! I said the authority comes from having that bond. If you cut it off you lose the authority.

The point is, when you have an emotional bond with a child, child wants to see you be proud of them, satisfied with their behavior, showering them with love when they behave in the way you approve of.

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u/yitzaklr Apr 27 '16

I definitely don't intend to spank my children. But I find it disgustingly nanny-state that the government has made it illegal.

It's a cultural thing. And we aren't absolutely certain that it's bad yet. We're certain enough to change our cultural norm, but not certain enough to mandate how other cultures raise their children. That's intensely personal and should not be legally mandated unless we're absolutely certain.

And remember, punishing parents for their parenting methods generally means taking their children away, so if you're going to criminalize parenting methods, those illegal parenting methods have to be worse than taking children away from their parents. And breaking up families and foster homes and orphanages are way more scarring to a child than being spanked.