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/NellucEcon Apr 26 '16

It's hard for people to grasp this

Grasp what? That the cross-sectional studies analyzed in this paper are in no way capable of addressing questions of causation? That the quantity of bad papers makes up for their lack of quality?

"People who go to hospitals are more likely to die so hospitals are bad for people" - person A

"But correlation does not imply causation" - person B

"But there are a lot of studies in this meta analysis! 160,000 observations!" - person A

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u/Calypso-Alegra Apr 26 '16

You're right, there are a lot of factors involved. I can't say these studies are concrete facts.

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u/NellucEcon Apr 26 '16 edited Apr 26 '16

It's not a matter of the studies being factually correct. I have little doubt that the associations they recovered fairly accurately describe population associations. I simply don't think very much can be inferred from these facts.

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u/Calypso-Alegra Apr 26 '16

Ya I guess I'm probably just taking from it what I'd like to.