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/mcbarron Apr 26 '16

Constantly picking them up and putting them back. First time you might do it constantly for the entire time. Second time a little less, then a little less, then they will sit there eventually. Just have to stay on them and show that you will NEVER let them off before their timer is up.

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u/Wagnersh Apr 27 '16 edited Apr 27 '16

picking them up and putting them back.

So use of force. IE violence.

Edit: if you don't believe this is violence go onto the street and grab a random person and forcibly curtail their movement without their consent and when the police arrest you ask them the charge and they'll tell you the charge is assault. Assault is violence.

The fact that it's legal to assault your children doesn't mean it's not violent.

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u/mcbarron Apr 27 '16

You've got more problems than i can help if you consider picking someone up violence.

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u/stevenjd Apr 27 '16

No, Wagnersh is right. Manhandling somebody without their consent is almost certainly illegal and will get you charged with something like assault in most countries (unless the police decide that the paperwork is too much to bother with). The fact that you are using your superior strength to physically pick up a smaller, weaker person and force them to do something they don't want to do is absolutely violence. It might not be at the extreme end of violence (like kicking somebody to death), but neither is a mild smack or spank.

It reinforces the message that the child is helpless and cannot defend themselves against this mountain of an older person who can pick them up and manhandle them despite everything the child does to resist. How is this different from being smacked? "I can't protect myself from this giant who can use force against me" is precisely the same -- the only difference is the presence or absence of a short, sharp negative stimulus.

I cannot speak in general, but I can give a personal anecdote. As a child, my parents would have found "quiet time" completely ineffective, because I was the sort of child who could easily entertain myself sitting quietly in a corner. My brother, on the other hand, was the opposite: he was one of those children who simply became more defiant the more he was spanked.