tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/spanking-24185/articlesspanking – The Conversation2023-04-18T20:26:22Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2035912023-04-18T20:26:22Z2023-04-18T20:26:22ZTime to abolish the Canadian law that allows adults to spank and hit children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521692/original/file-20230418-926-xy0s7z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=83%2C114%2C2860%2C1818&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Strategies that may help reduce support for corporal punishment — as well as reduce its use and intentions to use it — include individual and group-based programs to develop positive parenting skills.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/time-to-abolish-the-canadian-law-that-allows-adults-to-spank-and-hit-children" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Corporal punishment (e.g., spanking) is allowed in Canada according to <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-43.html">Section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada</a>. Some Canadians are not aware of this and are surprised to learn that such a law exists, whereas others want to hold onto this archaic act. </p>
<p><a href="https://researchco.ca/2023/02/17/section43-canada/">A growing number of Canadians, however, are aware of the law and understand the need to have Section 43 abolished</a>. The real question is why hasn’t our country already removed permission to hit children from the Criminal Code of Canada? </p>
<p>Globally, efforts to end violence against children, including corporal punishment, have been underway for half a century. To date, <a href="https://endcorporalpunishment.org/countdown/">65 countries and states worldwide have banned corporal punishment</a>. Unfortunately, Canada is not one of them. </p>
<p>Currently, <a href="https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/44-1/s-251">Bill S-251</a>, which would ban corporal punishment in Canada, is being debated in the Senate. Now is the time to provide evidence to Canadians to inform the debate. </p>
<h2>Why corporal punishment should never be used</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521766/original/file-20230419-14-4cypca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An infographic titled 'All children have the right to live free from violence' showing the harms caused by physical punishment and pathways for change" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521766/original/file-20230419-14-4cypca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521766/original/file-20230419-14-4cypca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521766/original/file-20230419-14-4cypca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521766/original/file-20230419-14-4cypca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521766/original/file-20230419-14-4cypca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1242&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521766/original/file-20230419-14-4cypca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1242&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521766/original/file-20230419-14-4cypca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1242&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Physical punishment has no known benefits to children, but extensive research shows the harm it causes well into adulthood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Childhood Adversity and Resilience research team)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child defines corporal punishment (also referred to as physical punishment) <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/460bc7772.html">as punishment that uses physical force that is intended to cause pain or discomfort even if it is very mild or light</a>. Corporal punishment can include hitting, spanking, smacking, slapping, kicking, shaking, scratching, pinching or biting, among other physical acts. </p>
<p>Canadian estimates within the last 10 years suggest that between <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7729-6">18 per cent</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2014-013">43 per cent</a> of families use spanking to discipline children. </p>
<p>Evidence collected over the past two decades and published in hundreds of peer-reviewed studies, has demonstrated that corporal punishment is harmful to children and has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1503%2Fcmaj.101314">no known benefits</a>. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037%2Ffam0000191">research has consistently</a> shown <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.01.014">corporal punishment to be a significant risk factor</a> for injury, poor parent-child relationships and poor outcomes in children and youth. These include aggression, antisocial behaviour, slower cognitive development, emotional disorders including anxiety and depression, physical health problems, substance use, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts and violence in intimate relationships later in life. </p>
<p>Because of serious concerns about the significant negative outcomes associated with corporal punishment, the American Academy of Pediatrics <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-3112">published a statement in 2018</a> clearly recommending against any physical punishment, including spanking, hitting and slapping. A similar statement was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/pxz063">published in 2019 by the Canadian Paediatric Society</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“At no time should parents use physical punishment — spanking, slapping, hitting — or behaviour that shames children.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Barriers to repealing Section 43</h2>
<p>Extensive evidence highlights the harms of spanking, and no studies have found any benefits of spanking for the child. Sixty-five other countries or states worldwide have already instituted spanking bans. The question remains: Why hasn’t Canada already repealed Section 43 of the Criminal Code? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man and a woman sitting on a sofa looking at a laptop screen together" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521715/original/file-20230418-26-hehrly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521715/original/file-20230418-26-hehrly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521715/original/file-20230418-26-hehrly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521715/original/file-20230418-26-hehrly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521715/original/file-20230418-26-hehrly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521715/original/file-20230418-26-hehrly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521715/original/file-20230418-26-hehrly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some studies have shown that providing research summaries about harms related to corporal punishment and information about children’s rights can help parents to decide to stop spanking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A common argument for spanking is, “I was spanked, and I turned out OK.” While that may be true for some people, it often isn’t the case. </p>
<p>Many children, youth and adults experience numerous poor outcomes across their lifespan related to being spanked in childhood. Physical punishment in childhood is associated with a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4359-8">higher likelihood</a> of experiencing physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect and/or exposure to intimate partner violence.</p>
<p>It’s clear that spanking is a parenting strategy that comes with significant and unnecessary risks. </p>
<p>A common misconception related to the repeal of Section 43 is that laws banning corporal punishment will mean criminalization and incarceration of parents. This is simply not true and not the purpose of a ban. </p>
<p>In 1979, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/026975800501200203">Sweden became the first country to ban corporal punishment in all settings</a>; the aim was to educate the public — not prosecute parents. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0145-2134(99)00021-6">Prosecution rates of parents remained unchanged after the ban was in place</a>. </p>
<p>The overall purpose of such bans is to reduce the use of corporal punishment, increase early identification of at-risk children and youth and to support families through preventive interventions.</p>
<h2>Evidence of changing public attitudes</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Form asking whether corporal punishment should be prohibited, with the box for 'Yes' ticked" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521716/original/file-20230418-28-n0h8ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521716/original/file-20230418-28-n0h8ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521716/original/file-20230418-28-n0h8ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521716/original/file-20230418-28-n0h8ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521716/original/file-20230418-28-n0h8ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521716/original/file-20230418-28-n0h8ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521716/original/file-20230418-28-n0h8ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Research from several countries indicates that the most effective method of reducing public support for the use of corporal punishment may be legislation prohibiting it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Several strategies have shown promise in reducing support for corporal punishment, as well as in reducing the intention to use, and the actual act of using it. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.01.017">These include</a> individual and group-based programs to develop positive parenting skills, home visitation programs and media-based interventions. </p>
<p>Some studies have also demonstrated that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.10.013">providing research summaries</a> about harms related to corporal punishment and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519852631">information about children’s rights</a> can help parents to decide to stop spanking.</p>
<p>Importantly, research from several countries indicates that <a href="https://endcorporalpunishment.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/The-positive-impact-of-prohibition-of-corporal-punishment-on-children.pdf">legislation prohibiting corporal punishment may be the most effective method of reducing public support for the use of corporal punishment</a>. Bans alone may not be sufficient; they should be enacted in combination with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.10.016">public awareness and education campaigns</a>.</p>
<p>It is essential that Canada complies with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that prohibits spanking. It is our duty to protect our children from unnecessary harm and give them the best chance to live happy and healthy lives that are free from violence. This starts with the Repeal of Section 43.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203591/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tracie O. Afifi receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canada Research Chairs, and the Public Health Agency of Canada for work related to her program of research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Gonzalez receives funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Canada Research Chairs fund. </span></em></p>Extensive evidence shows the harms of spanking, and 65 other countries or states worldwide have already banned it. Why has Canada not done the same by repealing Section 43 of the Criminal Code?Tracie O. Afifi, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Childhood Adversity and Resilience, University of ManitobaAndrea Gonzalez, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1726272021-11-28T09:10:08Z2021-11-28T09:10:08ZFour reasons why physically punishing school children doesn’t work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433943/original/file-20211125-17-vruej3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A spanking paddle to discipline children which bears a twist to the Donald Trump slogan.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gilbert Mercier/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When I was a child I went to school in South Africa. This was the late 1970s. At school, the teachers would hit us. It was called getting the cane, the cane being a long, flexible stick. This tradition, exported from a Dickensian Victorian English model, was very popular with some teachers. They were seen as terrors: you didn’t want to get the cane from them. There was one teacher in particular who would use the cane a lot. We were all petrified of him, and we hated him at the same time.</p>
<p>Often boys would be caned in public. Once I was caned on a sports field in front of a group of students. They thought it was funny. On one occasion, I was sent to the headmaster’s office. He was a tall, solemn-looking man who wore a black headmaster’s gown. He ordered me to place my head under a table and gave me two strokes. I remember crying, but it wasn’t from the physical pain, it was from the humiliation.</p>
<p>Corporal punishment is institutional child abuse, and for this reason, luckily, it is forbidden in many countries. However, according to 2019 statistics, <a href="https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/19/12/consequences-corporal-punishment">only 53 countries</a> actually ban corporal punishment formally.</p>
<p>There are still many schools in the world where it continues illegally. In fact, in Kenya as I write this article, in the wake of unrest by students, there is increasing <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/education/article/2001428519/bring-back-caning-to-curb-school-unrest-clergy-tells-state">pressure</a> to bring corporal punishment back to schools.</p>
<p>In an article I wrote in 2020, I pointed out that there are <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11125-019-09445-1">many forms of violence in education</a>: symbolic, structural and physical. Corporal punishment is at the centre of this. It is a practice that is ineffective, causing misery to millions of young children who are not yet formed adults. It does not work and it should stop.</p>
<p>There are many adults who think that corporal punishment is a good idea. But here are four reasons why it does not work.</p>
<h2>Learning and the brain</h2>
<p>Neurobiology tells us that learning is an <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01454/full">emotional</a> matter: the success with which new information will be processed depends on the emotional state of the learner. When we are in a state of panic, the brain is in fight or flight mode and cannot integrate information deeply, let alone allow for intellectual expansion into higher order thinking such as synthesis, creativity or evaluation. If students are in fear of being hit, they are distracted with worry and in no state to integrate new information harmoniously.</p>
<p>It is true that behaviour can be regulated by punishment. In the late 1940s, the American psychologist BF Skinner showed in his theory of <a href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html">operant conditioning</a> how, if someone is hit as a deterrent, over time they might stop the punishable action to avoid being hit (although not always). However, if this works, it is not learning, it’s behavioural regulation. And if the goal of punishment is to regulate behaviour, violent punishments are simply not necessary since many other, more humane deterrents, are sufficiently effective.</p>
<h2>Escalation</h2>
<p>In any school, there will be young people who will not listen to instructions, who will test limits and therefore bring a number of sanctions upon them. The world of punishment is not a pleasant one. However, when students continue to break school rules, there must be some escalation of sanctions, ultimately leading to exclusion. This is to indicate a progressively severe level of punishment in response to reprehensible behaviours. </p>
<p>When the punishment is physical, however, the only recourse is for the physical punishments to become more and more severe. <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/04/spanking">This can become extremely dangerous</a> as beatings become stronger and stronger, causing more and more physical and mental damage. This is the nightmarish scenario of the stubborn student who will not change and, as a result, is beaten more and more brutally.</p>
<h2>Role models</h2>
<p>Students look to adults as role models, teachers in particular. The values, language and behaviour of the teacher or the head of school send out a message about what is normal and valued in society. If physical punishment is a norm, the message is that violence is acceptable, and if violence is acceptable, then multiple forms of physical abuse can become mainstream.</p>
<p>Corporal punishment models a brutal vision of society and may well lead young people to beat other young people. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002175571400031X#">A 2014 study in Brazil</a> found a positive correlation between incidents of bullying and violent discipline methods. If schools wish to model a vision of peace and respect, then positive discipline and restorative practice are more likely to influence change than corporal punishments.</p>
<h2>Psychological damage</h2>
<p>There are long term <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/02/the-long-term-effects-of-spanking/253425/">psychological effects</a> of corporal punishment, leading to psychological maladjustment. These may only manifest themselves indirectly or many years after the experience. Hitting children in schools can scar them for life. <a href="https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cdev.13565">A recent study</a> shows that spanking can have serious neurological effects on young people, similar to those endured after severe maltreatment.</p>
<p>Of course there are exceptions: those students who tolerate the beatings, correct their behaviours quickly or avoid punishment altogether. There are also those who suffer from corporal punishment as children but, perhaps as a result, turn against the idea very strongly as adults, never laying a hand on a child’s head because of it. But these depend on many personal, intertwined factors and can hardly be described as the rule. </p>
<p>Too many times, corporal punishment breaks young people and brutalises them. Quality research published in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34197808/">The Lancet</a> shows, convincingly, that across gender, race and parenting styles, corporal punishment does not improve behaviour, it makes it worse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172627/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Conrad Hughes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Too often, corporal punishment breaks young people and brutalises them.Conrad Hughes, Campus and Secondary Principal at the International School of Geneva's La Grande Boissière, Research Associate at the University of Geneva's department of Education and Psychology, Université de GenèveLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1069422018-11-22T13:25:17Z2018-11-22T13:25:17ZThe link between violence against women and children matters. Here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246412/original/file-20181120-161624-1wcgwgg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Violence against children hinders them from reaching their full potential. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nearly half of women across South Africa are subjected to violence by an <a href="http://genderlinks.org.za/wp-content/uploads/imported/articles/attachments/12769_gender_based_violence_indicators_research______report_23february.pdf">intimate partner</a>. This in turn negatively affects about <a href="http://www.samj.org.za/index.php/samj/article/view/12218">one in four children</a>. A child who is exposed to violence in the home also risks being abused and will, quite reasonably, fear for their own safety.</p>
<p>The country’s government and civil society recently responded to the scourge of violence against women by hosting a <a href="https://www.health-e.org.za/2018/11/01/government-activists-discuss-gender-based-violence-and-femicide/">summit</a> to galvanise political support and develop solutions to end this sort of violence. Also recently, the <a href="http://thetotalshutdown.org.za/">#TotalShutDown movement</a> embarked on protests across the country demanding an end to violence against women. </p>
<p>This focus is a critical step towards addressing South Africa’s immense problem of gender based violence. But it’s important for campaigners to recognise that the problems of violence against women and violence against children are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28395846">deeply intertwined</a>.</p>
<p>There’s an increasing global recognition that violence against women and children often occur together in homes, and are driven by the same factors. For instance, young boys who witness their mothers being abused in the home or who are abused themselves are more likely to <a href="https://nebraska.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/exposure-to-domestic-violence-a-meta-analysis-of-child-and-adoles">harm women and children later in life</a>. </p>
<p>In South Africa, as in many other places, social and cultural norms promote a gendered hierarchy: men are in a superior position over women and children. These social norms provide considerable space for men’s violence towards women and children to be tolerated. They are manifested in expressions of masculinity, enforcement of gender norms and the way that children are disciplined.</p>
<h2>Intergenerational violence</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.undp.org/content/dam/rbap/docs/Research%20&%20Publications/womens_empowerment/RBAP-Gender-2013-P4P-VAW-Report.pdf">Evidence shows</a> that men’s use of violence and controlling behaviour towards an intimate partner often extends to physically punishing their children as a means of discipline. Importantly, research is now <a href="https://www.whatworks.co.za/documents/publications/116-vac-vaw-evidence-brief-new-crop-1/file">revealing</a> that women who experience violence at the hands of a partner are more likely to use physical punishment to discipline their children. This further drives the cycle of intergenerational violence.</p>
<p>The impact of experiencing or witnessing violence as a child has wide-ranging and long lasting effects. When a child experiences violence at home, they learn to tolerate violence. They are also at an increased risk of suffering from poor mental health, engaging in drug and alcohol abuse and risky sexual behaviours, and contracting HIV. They are also more at risk of behavioural problems such as aggression, delinquency and poor social functioning. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246408/original/file-20181120-161624-10hi3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246408/original/file-20181120-161624-10hi3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246408/original/file-20181120-161624-10hi3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246408/original/file-20181120-161624-10hi3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246408/original/file-20181120-161624-10hi3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246408/original/file-20181120-161624-10hi3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246408/original/file-20181120-161624-10hi3vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Social and cultural norms that place men in a superior position over women and children need to change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA-EFE/Nic Bothma</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s also important to understand that children who have experienced violence are more likely to lack empathy towards others. That means they’re more likely to perpetrate violence. It is this aspect of exposure to violence that drives its intergenerational transmission. This has a direct impact on their relationships with intimate partners, as well as their ability to be emotionally responsive parents.</p>
<p>Growing up in violent households affects a child’s sense of security, self worth and how they relate to other children. In <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278393627_'So_Now_I'm_the_Man'_Intimate_Partner_Femicide_and_Its_Interconnections_With_Expressions_of_Masculinities_in_South_Africa">qualitative research</a> I conducted among violent men, they spoke about having previously witnessed violence against their mother by a father or stepfather.</p>
<p>Many of the men described feeling scared for their own safety. They also felt powerless to protect their mother. It’s important for society to respond to both problems in a coordinated way to reduce their burden simultaneously.</p>
<h2>Seeking solutions</h2>
<p>South Africa’s response to both violence against women and children has, until now, been happening in silos. It’s important that people start to join the dots. It makes sense to integrate approaches to both problems.</p>
<p>The evidence showing what works on joint programmes to address violence against women and violence against children is only starting to emerge in low and middle-income settings. Successful programmes are targeting multiple stakeholders, challenging social norms about gender relations and the use of violence. At the same time, such programmes are also supporting greater communication and shared decision making among family members.</p>
<p>South Africa has signed on to be a pathfinder country, as part of the United Nations’ <a href="http://www.end-violence.org/">Global Partnership to end violence against children</a>. In line with this commitment, the government is developing a programme of action to end violence against women and children. </p>
<p>If children are to reach their full potential and the cycle of intergenerational violence is to be broken, South Africa must consider collaborative solutions. Any programme of action must be aimed at preventing violence before it happens and providing an effective response and support to those affected by violence.</p>
<p><em>The author is a contributor to the <a href="http://www.ci.uct.ac.za/ci/child-gauge/2018">South African Child Gauge 2018</a>, which was released this week.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106942/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shanaaz Mathews receives funding from The RAITH Foundation and The ELMA Foundation </span></em></p>There’s increasing global recognition that violence against women and children often occur together in homes.Shanaaz Mathews, Professor, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1066722018-11-22T00:02:13Z2018-11-22T00:02:13ZCanada: What will it take to end physical punishment of children?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246451/original/file-20181120-161618-1tufed4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5191%2C3458&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">At least 54 countries prohibit the corporal punishment of children. Canada has neither prohibited corporal punishment, nor said it will. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-little-sisters-on-walk-woods-1217305036">Shutterstock </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2018/11/01/peds.2018-3112">policy statement</a> recommending that parents not spank, hit or slap their children. </p>
<p>The announcement created a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/health/spanking-harmful-study-pediatricians.html">flurry of media</a> attention <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/05/spanking-children-makes-them-more-aggressive-us-pediatricians-body-says">around the world</a> with headlines such as “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/11/spanking-kids-effective/574978/">Spanking is Still Really Common, and Still Really Bad for Kids</a>.” </p>
<p>The statement is significant, but it’s also old news. It adds to already substantial <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-33351-006?casa_token=CO8jy6iVeIAAAAAA:dQR5yXvEw7hsZNXDar_w6DZHzvYwPmi4Fn5OQ_L51PFWm2cjB98mQgFoGMuDBNsTTQXL7TGPdS-AdhApMpTF">research evidence about the risks that physical punishment poses to children</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://endcorporalpunishment.org/countdown/">To date, 54 countries have banned the physical punishment of children, and 56 more have declared that they will.</a> Canada has done neither.</p>
<p>In Canada, the <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-43.html">law</a> still permits parents to use <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ruth-miller/legal-spanking-canada_b_12612168.html">physical punishment</a> to discipline their children.</p>
<h2>Truth and reconciliation</h2>
<p>This is about more than health. In my research, I am involved in a <a href="https://www.churchesforchildren.net">multi-disciplinary project</a> in which we examine the intertwined health, religious and reconciliation issues as they relate to corporal punishment.</p>
<p>What the AAP doesn’t mention is that interpretations of scripture in the Bible are one of the reasons corporal punishment has been normalized in the parenting toolbox. <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/towards-recovery/201711/spare-the-rod-spoil-the-child">The influence of concepts such as “spare the rod; spoil the child”</a> (based on Proverbs 13:24) have been <a href="https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.ca/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=victor+vieth+spare+the+rod&btnG=&httpsredir=1&article=1572&context=wmlr">widely used to justify</a> physical punishment. </p>
<p>An egregious result of such teachings was the way physical punishment was used against Indigenous children in church-run and government-supported Indian Residential Schools. Call to Action 6 of the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/beyond-94-truth-and-reconciliation-1.4574765">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a> <a href="http://trc.ca/assets/pdf/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">calls upon the Government of Canada to remove Section 43 of the Criminal Code</a>: the law that allows for the physical punishment of children.</p>
<p>Banning corporal punishment in Canada would be in keeping with the AAP’s strong and research-based statement about the need for adults to avoid physically punishing children. It would also be a critical step toward reconciliation. </p>
<h2>Canada’s lethargy is baffling</h2>
<p>It is baffling that this law reform remains so controversial here in Canada when it has been embraced around the world. In the past year alone, the Philippines, the Republic of Kosovo, South Africa and Scotland <a href="https://endcorporalpunishment.org/wp-content/uploads/newsletters/Global-newsletter-41.pdf">have all taken steps towards the full legal protection of children against violence.</a> One argument against repealing the legislation includes <a href="https://www.cardus.ca/assets/data/files/2017-01-Cardus-Family_-_Parental_Discipline.pdf">the view that limited use of corporal punishment does no harm and may be a benefit to the child.</a></p>
<p>But the science disagrees. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(18)30105-6/fulltext">Study</a> after <a href="https://www.e-sciencecentral.org/articles/SC000022145">study</a> demonstrates that not only is <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-14818-2_4">corporal punishment ineffective</a> in promoting long-term positive health outcomes, but it also places children at risk for poor <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213417300145">mental health</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002234761731377X">higher levels of violence and aggression,</a> <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0193397306000967?via%3Dihub">low emotional-adjustment</a> and <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/486142">increased antisocial behaviour.</a> </p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/9/e021616?int_source=trendmd&int_medium=trendmd&int_campaign=trendmd">study led by psychologist Frank J. Elgar</a> showed that countries that have fully banned corporal punishment have less youth violence. Public health researcher <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=26612">Jo Becker</a> argues that enduring change happens when <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/692752/pdf?casa_token=D5Dsv2ZrCiwAAAAA:CmaDtJh_v-mdbcNFcOhtFD9BgSdTeA4m4FgygO9uw9AdtSFAM_90SulkSltgUWPl3RDBpWuD">bans are combined with public education.</a> When laws changed, changes in attitudes and practices quickly followed. </p>
<p>A combination of both legislation and public education is the most sensible plan for Canada.</p>
<h2>Children need discipline</h2>
<p>People ask me “What happens if my child tries to run out in front of a bus? Won’t changing this law stop me from protecting her?” Of course not! Keeping your child safe from danger is not physical punishment; It is a parental duty. </p>
<p>Physical punishment is <a href="http://www.cheo.on.ca/uploads/advocacy/joint_statement_e.pdf">hitting a child to cause them to feel pain in the hope that the experience of pain will correct their behaviour.</a> This is fundamentally different from the use of appropriate force to protect a child, both in purpose and in action. Repealing laws that permit physical punishment in no way means that child discipline is not important. The opposite is true: providing discipline is an essential part of good parenting. But all children have the right to discipline that does not endanger their well-being. </p>
<p>I am downplaying the importance of the legal implications of reform. But the 110 countries that have either banned or are moving towards bans of physical punishment have had to think through legal issues, and Canada can do that too. </p>
<h2>Many groups have called for change</h2>
<p>In 2004, a national coalition of diverse organizations facilitated by the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario published the “<a href="http://www.cheo.on.ca/en/physicalpunishment">Joint Statement on Physical Punishment of Children and Youth.</a>” Drawing on contemporary evidence, it draws attention to the risks posed by physical punishment and calls instead for positive approaches to discipline. It has been endorsed by 615 organizations from across Canada, including community organizations, cultural and religious groups, Indigenous groups, school boards, the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Canadian Medical Association.</p>
<p>Yet, the law permitting the use of physical punishment in Canada prevails.</p>
<h2>What will it take to stop hitting our kids?</h2>
<p>All the evidence we need to stop hitting our children is already available. Clearly, change is going to take something more. For one thing, it will require a critical examination of the cultural and religious norms and values that perpetuate this behaviour even in the face of <a href="http://www.aappublications.org/news/2018/11/05/discipline110518">overwhelming evidence</a> documenting its harms. And it will require reflection on our collective tacit acceptance of violence against children.</p>
<p>Until that happens, and until the normalization and even justification of violence against children is called out by Canadians, our children will be at risk.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106672/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valerie Michaelson receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. One of her grants in 2017 was a Canada 150 Connection Grant, which had the goal of formulating a theological position statement on the corporal punishment of children. She has also received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the United Church of Canada's Justice and Reconciliation Fund. She is a member of the Children's Rights Academic Network, established by the Landon Pearson Centre at Carleton University. She is third author on the study led by Frank Elgar, which is cited in the article.</span></em></p>Until Canadians challenge the normalization of violence against children, we will continue to support, or at least tacitly condone, something that by all accounts is harmful.Valerie Michaelson, Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Public Health Sciences and School of Religion, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/880982018-01-14T08:33:25Z2018-01-14T08:33:25ZChurch outrage over spanking ban aids violence against South Africa’s children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200920/original/file-20180105-26163-n5uqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Global faith organisations are working to end violence against children.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some churches and Christian lobbies are outraged by a <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2016-02-11-sahrc-recommends-ban-on-corporal-punishment">groundbreaking</a> South African court ruling on 19th October 2017 that outlaws the spanking of children. The court found that the common law defence of spanking as a “reasonable and moderate chastisement” of a child in the home is <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2017-12-05-stop-smacking-children-crl-commission/">unconstitutional</a>.</p>
<p>Violence against children is a major problem in the country. A disturbing <a href="https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/research-bulletin-optimus-study-child-abuse-violence-and-neglect-south-africa">2016 study</a> with more than 9500 adolescents suggested that one in three children under 18 has been hit, beaten or kicked by an adult caregiver. <a href="https://test-za.savethechildren.net/sites/savethechildren.org.za/files/Corporal%20Punishment%20of%20Children%20-%20A%20South%20African%20National%20Survey.pdf">Earlier studies</a> show that more than half of South African parents have admitted they hit their children; 38% termed this a “severe beating”. </p>
<p>There’s been a flurry of negative responses to the court ruling by some vocal faith groups. They promote a conservative and <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2012-02-05-staring-into-the-abyss-of-special-privileges/">contested</a> understanding of religious freedom in post-apartheid South Africa that reinforces biblical literalism, <a href="https://forsa.org.za/press-release-spanking-judgment-sets-dangerous-precedent/">hierarchical family structures</a> and the right of parents to <a href="https://forsa.org.za/media-release-state-telling-sa-parents-how-to-raise-their-children/">discipline children</a> in a so-called “godly way”. </p>
<p>This approach is epitomised by the organisation Freedom of Religion South Africa <a href="http://forsa.org.za/">FOR SA</a>. It claims to represent 12 million South Africans and has launched an <a href="http://forsa.org.za/press-release-for-sa-appeals-spanking-judgement/">appeal</a> against the court judgement.</p>
<p>Other local Christian organisations such as <a href="http://www.warehouse.org.za/">The Warehouse</a> have offered a more constructive response. This recognises a need to rethink tradition and scriptures in the light of new knowledge. This approach aims to better equip churches to play a leading role in reshaping social norms to embrace progressive changes; in this instance when it comes to the treatment of children.</p>
<p>This is more in line with the many global faith organisations that are working to end <a href="https://evac.jliflc.com/">violence against children</a>. Their views were reflected in commitments made in <a href="https://arigatouinternational.org/en/latest-news/news/205-gnrc-5th-forum-the-panama-declaration-on-ending-violence-against-children">Panama</a> in 2017.</p>
<p>These approaches represent two poles in a wider theological debate around the possible relationships between <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/openglobalrights/larry-cox/human-rights-must-get-religion">religion and human rights</a>. One uses sacred texts in a literal way to legitimise certain forms of hierarchical violence as God-ordained. The other seeks to transform these texts by adopting a <a href="http://theotherfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/When-Faith-Does-Violence.pdf">contextual approach</a> to the same traditions. </p>
<h2>When faith does violence</h2>
<p>South Africa has a long history of using Christian sacred texts to underpin ideologies of superiority and domination. This includes justifying slavery, colonialism, apartheid, homophobia and patriarchy. In 1985 a group of predominately black theologians used a grassroots process to<a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/challenge-church-theological-comment-political-crisis-south-africa-kairos-document-1985">produce a contentious document</a> that challenged the churches to reject this <a href="http://ujamaa.ukzn.ac.za/Libraries/manuals/The_Kairos_Documents.sflb.ashx">state theology</a> as well as silent complicity by churches. </p>
<p>The same pattern can be seen today on the issue of spanking and children’s rights. Biblical literalism is being used to support corporal punishment, framed as both loving parenthood and obedience to God’s commands. Specific texts such as <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/13-24.htm">Proverbs 13:24</a> promote complex reinforcements between religion and culture, underpinned by a view of the child as bad, disobedient and in need of physical correction. According to this passage:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Children are often presented as being at the bottom of a hierarchy of human importance, where a father historically held the power of life and death over “his” household as God’s representative. In this authoritarian system, men wield power over women, adults over children, rich over poor, straight over gay and white over black.</p>
<p>The lesser party is expected to “know their place”. Children are not supposed to speak out against the things that are done to them but to always honour their parents. </p>
<p>Instead of being seen as more deserving of rights and protection by virtue of their vulnerability, children can be treated as less deserving of the full package of human rights, such as the right to bodily integrity. </p>
<p>Family scripts from a <a href="http://disa.ukzn.ac.za/sites/default/files/pdf_files/asapr60.9.pdf">“Christian National Education”</a> era during apartheid made physical punishment an integral part of child rearing. These ideas continue to shape the new dispensation. <a href="http://www.childlinesa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/alternatives-to-corporal-punishment-for-parents.pdf">Alternatives</a> that engage faith communities are urgently needed.</p>
<p>Many Christian leaders still draw on themes of punishment, retribution and redemptive violence in their everyday preaching. Some depict all people as disobedient children who deserve punishment by an angry parent god, and who require the threat of punishment to learn and grow. </p>
<p>These images inevitably shape intergenerational social patterns. Parents claim that they were smacked as children and turned out okay. But South Africa remains one of the most familial violent <a href="http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/progress/country-reports/south-africa.html">countries</a> in the world and “reasonable chastisement” easily becomes a loophole for abuse. </p>
<h2>Towards a child-friendly church</h2>
<p>Progressive South African theologians are increasingly developing alternative radical ways of re-reading sacred texts within communities, using <a href="http://ujamaa.ukzn.ac.za/Libraries/manuals/Ujamaa_CBS_bible_study_Manual_part_1_2.sflb.ashx">contextual bible study techniques</a> that developed in the anti-apartheid struggle. </p>
<p>These can help churches engage with sacred texts as seen through the eyes of marginalised women, abused children and sexual minorities. Resources such as The Warehouse’s 2017 <a href="http://www.warehouse.org.za/index.php/site/overview/C59">Children, Church and Law handbook</a> offer some support to churches around child protection. But they may not yet go far enough in identifying and challenging damaging theologies that underpin and legitimate violence. </p>
<p>With increased awareness of the formative role of a child’s earliest years, what might a child-friendly church here look like? How can churches in South Africa take practical steps to be part of the solution, and not the problem? </p>
<p>It remains to be seen what public stance mainstream church bodies such as the South African Council of Churches and the <a href="https://www.catholiccounselors.com/catholic-bishops-corporal-punishment/">South African Catholic Bishops Conference</a> will take on the new ruling. They can’t afford to remain silent in the light of this vocal backlash by some but need to use the opportunity to actively educate their congregations against all violence against children. In this task, South Africa can turn to excellent resources already developed by the <a href="http://churchesfornon-violence.org/wp/?attachment_id=908">Church Network on Non-Violence</a>. </p>
<p>These are publicly endorsed by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu who <a href="http://journals.co.za/docserver/fulltext/art19/3/3/98.pdf?expires=1515405222&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=ADCC0C7735033CF573D798E740A3A9BE">has said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… millions of the world’s children still suffer from humiliating acts of violence and these violations of their rights as human beings can have serious lifelong effects. Violence begets violence and we shall reap a whirlwind. Children can be disciplined without violence that instils fear and misery.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88098/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Selina Palm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A groundbreaking High Court ruling outlawing the spanking of children in South Africa has outraged some Christian bodies that claim parents are entitled to hit their children in a “godly way”.Selina Palm, Researcher, Unit for Religion and Development Research, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/859622017-10-29T21:57:35Z2017-10-29T21:57:35ZWhy parents should never spank children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192314/original/file-20171028-13298-1otacaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There is no research evidence that spanking improves child behaviour. On the contrary, spanking is associated with aggression, antisocial behaviour, mental health problems and negative relationships with parents.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Spanking — usually defined as hitting a child on the buttocks with an open hand — is a <a href="http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/research/prevalence-research/">common form of discipline still used on children worldwide</a>. However, to date, spanking <a href="http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/">has been banned in 53 countries and states globally</a>. </p>
<p>The use of spanking has been hotly debated over the last several decades. Supporters state that it is safe, necessary and effective; opponents argue that spanking is harmful to children and violates their human rights to protection.</p>
<p>As two scholars with extensive research experience and clinical insight in the field of child maltreatment, and with specific expertise related to spanking, we would like to move beyond this debate. </p>
<p>The research clearly shows that spanking is related to an increased likelihood of many <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27055181">poor health, social and developmental outcomes</a>. These poor outcomes include <a href="http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-1284539.pdf">mental health problems</a>, substance use, suicide attempts and physical health conditions along with developmental, behavioural, social and cognitive problems. Equally important, there are <a href="http://www.cmaj.ca/content/early/2012/02/06/cmaj.101314">no research studies showing that spanking is beneficial for children</a>.</p>
<p>Those who say spanking is safe for a child if done in a specific way are, it would seem, simply expressing opinions. And these opinions are not supported by scientific evidence. </p>
<h2>The evidence on spanking</h2>
<p>There have now been hundreds of high-quality spanking research studies with a wide variety of samples and study designs. Over time, the quality of this research has improved to include better spanking measures and more sophisticated research designs and statistical methods. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192139/original/file-20171026-13367-17u1xwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192139/original/file-20171026-13367-17u1xwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192139/original/file-20171026-13367-17u1xwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192139/original/file-20171026-13367-17u1xwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192139/original/file-20171026-13367-17u1xwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192139/original/file-20171026-13367-17u1xwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192139/original/file-20171026-13367-17u1xwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers can help move the debate forward by studying the impact of positive parenting interventions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The scientific evidence from these studies has consistently shown that spanking is related to harmful outcomes for children.</p>
<p>This has been best demonstrated in two landmark meta-analyses led by Dr. Elizabeth Gershoff. The first paper, published in 2002, reviewed and analyzed 88 studies published in the 62 years prior and found that <a href="http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-1284539.pdf">physical punishment was associated with physical abuse, delinquency and antisocial behaviour</a>. </p>
<p>An updated meta-analysis was most recently published in 2016. This reviewed and analyzed 75 studies from the previous 13 years, concluding that there was <a href="http://stories24.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/spanking_and_child_outcomes.pdf">no evidence that spanking improved child behaviour and that spanking was associated with an increased risk of 13 detrimental outcomes</a>. These include aggression, antisocial behaviour, mental health problems and negative relationships with parents. </p>
<p>We now have data that clearly demonstrates that spanking is not safe, nor effective. Of course this does not make parents who have used spanking bad parents. In the past, we simply did not know the risks.</p>
<h2>Towards positive parenting strategies</h2>
<p>Evidence from over 20 years of research consistently indicates the harms of spanking. There is also increasing global recognition of the rights of children to protection and dignity, as inscribed in the <a href="https://www.unicef.org/crc/">UN Convention on the Rights of the Child</a> and in targets within the <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)</a> to eliminate violence. Taken together, these tell us that spanking should never be used on children or adolescents of any age. </p>
<p>It is important, now, to find ways to help parents use positive and non-physical strategies with their children. Research already shows some evidence that <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014521341730025X">parenting programs specifically aimed at preventing physical punishment can be successful</a>. </p>
<p>Some evidence for reducing harsh parenting and physical punishment has been found for <a href="http://www.pcit.org/">Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)</a>, the <a href="http://www.incredibleyears.com/">Incredible Years (IY) program</a> and the <a href="http://nfp.mcmaster.ca/">Nurse Family Partnership (NFP)</a>. Other promising home visiting initiatives and interventions taking place in community and paediatric settings are also being examined for proven effectiveness. </p>
<p>As researchers, we also need to reframe the research we are conducting, the questions we are asking and the discussions we are having — to move this field forwards and to ensure the safety and well-being of children. The academic journal <em>Child Abuse & Neglect</em> <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01452134/71?sdc=1">has published a special issue</a>, containing <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213417300145">original research</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213417300522">discussion papers containing further strategies</a>. It is free to all readers for a limited time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85962/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Tracie O. Afifi receives funding from CIHR. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elisa Romano receives funding from the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.</span></em></p>The debate on spanking is over. Scientific studies consistently show that it is harmful to children, increasing the likelihood of mental health problems and antisocial behaviours.Tracie O. Afifi, Associate Professor, University of ManitobaElisa Romano, Full Professor of Clinical Psychology, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/835632017-09-07T23:26:00Z2017-09-07T23:26:00ZTeen suicide is on the rise and this is why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185551/original/file-20170911-2967-yils1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Those who grow up in toxic environments are up to 12 times more likely to experience addiction, depression and to try to commit suicide. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every 40 seconds, <a href="http://www.who.int/gho/mental_health/en/">another human life is taken by suicide</a>, according to World Health Organization data. </p>
<p>In Canada, a <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/carmha/publications/prov_indic_2017.html">new report</a> reveals that young people between the ages of 15 and 19, who are struggling with mental illness and addiction, have the <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/mental-health-services-between-provinces-canada-1.4267168">highest rates of suicide attempts</a>. Middle-aged men are also at <a href="http://theprovince.com/news/local-news/canadian-suicides-prompt-look-at-mens-roles-in-a-changing-world">high risk</a>, as are <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/2017/07/07/four-suicides-in-northern-ontario-first-nations-communities-this-week">children and youth in First Nations communities</a> who live with the <a href="http://nctr.ca/reports.php">legacy of trauma</a> perpetuated by colonization and the residential school system. </p>
<p>World Suicide Prevention Day this Sunday provokes us to pay attention. Suicide is a <a href="http://theprovince.com/news/local-news/canadian-suicides-prompt-look-at-mens-roles-in-a-changing-world">silent epidemic</a> that ruins lives and devastates families and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/11/state-of-emergency-declared-over-suicide-epidemic-in-canadas-first-nation-community">communities</a>. As a researcher, I have been examining and researching the factors that contribute to the blossoming of human potential, and the factors that undermine its full realization, for close to two decades. Suicide is the ultimate subversion of human potential. </p>
<p>Why are so many teenagers taking their own life? One factor is what I call “toxic socialization” — a process of physical or emotional childhood and adolescent abuse. Those who grow up in toxic environments are up to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-3797(98)00017-8">12 times more likely</a> to experience addiction, depression and to try to commit suicide. </p>
<h2>Neurological damage</h2>
<p>Remarkably, more than 90 per cent of people who succeed at suicide <a href="http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/depression-recognizing-signs-of-suicide#1">have been diagnosed with depression</a> or some other mental disorder. If we want to understand why people commit suicide, we have to understand what makes them depressed. </p>
<p>Like suicide, depression is complicated and caused by many factors. One important <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-3797(98)00017-8">contributing factor</a> is childhood and adolescent abuse in a “toxic socialization” process. </p>
<p>Socialization is the process where we are trained — by parents, teachers, priests and others — to be citizens of our societies. Toxic socialization is when this process is characterized by neglect or ongoing physical and emotional abuse. The violence of a toxic socialization process is typically justified as beneficial in some way to the process. “Spare the rod and spoil the child” is the prototypical justification. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185188/original/file-20170907-9585-1503jus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185188/original/file-20170907-9585-1503jus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185188/original/file-20170907-9585-1503jus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185188/original/file-20170907-9585-1503jus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185188/original/file-20170907-9585-1503jus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185188/original/file-20170907-9585-1503jus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185188/original/file-20170907-9585-1503jus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One in three Canadians have experienced abuse before the age of 15, according to a 2106 report from the Chief Public Health Officer.(</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Agents of socialization hit, scream, intimidate, threaten, shame and exclude because they feel that violence — such as spanking — <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.12306/abstract;jsessionid=1BECB80EE4A9AA471472BD62A93B3C97.f04t01">turns out a better adult product</a>. </p>
<p>But it doesn’t, at all. Toxic socialization — including corporal punishment, emotional abuse and the childhood trauma that is associated with it — contributes to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16203938">negative behaviours</a>. Children who are exposed to maltreatment, violence in the community or marital violence in families struggle with <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.psych.51.1.445">many forms of mental disability</a>, including anxiety, alcohol dependence, eating disorders, personality disorders and <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/3599892">depression</a>. </p>
<p>Why does the violence of a toxic socialization process contribute to depression and suicide? That’s a complicated question to sort out, but it’s certainly<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3223(01)01157-X"> linked to the neurobiological and endocrine damage </a> that results from chronic exposure to the stress of violent environments, especially during the critical early years of childhood and adolescence. </p>
<p>The impact is made worse when perpetrators are people who are supposed to protect and nurture, in environments that are supposed to feel safe and secure. </p>
<h2>What about our children?</h2>
<p>A staggering one in three Canadians has experienced abuse before the age of 15, according to a 2016 report from the Chief Public Health Officer: <em><a href="https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwjkyNz1wZPWAhWIw1QKHWNNDogQFgg1MAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhealthycanadians.gc.ca%2Fpublications%2Fdepartment-ministere%2Fstate-public-health-family-violence-2016-etat-sante-publique-violence-familiale%2Falt%2Fpdf-eng.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGv800BbhKQkNaBwROHJRFPpR5ZmA">A Focus on Family Violence in Canada</a></em>. In 2014, 131 Canadians also died at the hands of a family member, and there were 133,920 reported victims of dating or family violence.</p>
<p>How do you reduce the risk of depression, mental illness and suicide? The first step is to put an end to this toxic socialization. We have to stop using violent methods such as spanking, and emotionally abusive methods such as shaming, to “teach” our lessons and control a child’s behaviour. In order to take this step we will, as a society, have to stop justifying abuse in any form.</p>
<p>There is no evidence to support the notion that violence in the socialization process contributes to strong, healthy, well-adjusted adults. In fact, the evidence points in the opposite direction, that toxic socialization damages us and costs us as a society. One research team has estimated the burden of child maltreatment in the U.S. alone at over <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.10.006">half a trillion dollars</a> per year. </p>
<p>It’s simply not the case that if we “spare the rod” we “spoil the child.” On the contrary, if we want our children to be healthy and well-adjusted, and if we want to save this planet trillions of dollars, we should immediately halt all forms of violence against them. </p>
<h2>What about me?</h2>
<p>If you are a victim of a toxic socialization process, what can you do to heal yourself? </p>
<p>The first step is to stop telling yourself that violence against you is OK. Violence you experience does not make you a better or stronger person. It damages you. Instead, end your exposure to all forms of violence. </p>
<p>This can be a challenge if you find yourself trapped in an abusive marriage. Organizations such as <a href="https://www.stopabuse.ca/">Stop Abuse in Families</a> (S.A.I.F) in Alberta can help. </p>
<p>Ending your exposure to violence can be a challenge when ending it means ending toxic family relationships that may have endured for decades. Even as adults, we can find it difficult to draw boundaries around abusive parents and siblings. We fear the loss of these relationships, long for the love and support they are supposed to provide and cling even when they cause us serious harm. </p>
<p>The next step is to get treatment. A therapist can help you examine the relationships in your life for evidence of toxic socialization. They should be willing to work with you to help you understand the damage these relationships cause. They should be willing to help you heal the trauma involved. </p>
<h2>Mental health crisis</h2>
<p>The decision to commit suicide is complicated, but enduring toxic socialization is a significant factor. On the occasion of World Suicide Prevention day, let us be clear that violence perpetrated against children in the name of training them to be members of society is wrong. </p>
<p>If we are going to make any progress against the growing <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-ontario-mental-health-crisis-1.4253510">mental health crisis</a> and suicide epidemic in Canada and globally, then we need to change how we raise, educate and socialize our children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83563/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Sosteric does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>World Suicide Prevention Day draws attention to the rising tide of teenagers taking their own lives. “Toxic socialization” involving emotional and physical abuse in families is a major cause.Mike Sosteric, Associate Professor, Sociology, Athabasca UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/833942017-09-05T09:11:51Z2017-09-05T09:11:51ZResearch shows smacking makes children more aggressive and at risk of mental health problems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184524/original/file-20170904-17971-115ai09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It might be seen by some as one of the ultimate parenting taboos – to admit that you smack your child. Yet research from the Children’s Society reveals just <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/jul/08/smacking-children">14% of adults think slapping children is unacceptable</a>. It’s clear then that a lot of parents still see the odd smack as an acceptable form of punishment – for when all other methods of discipline have failed. </p>
<p>Many parents rationalise this type of punishment with the fact they too were smacked as a child and claim it didn’t do them any harm. But did it? </p>
<p>Recently, researchers in the US examined over 50 years’ of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/spanking-children-study-mental-health-problems_uk_572094c3e4b06bf544e0fbc5">research involving more than 160,000 children</a> and concluded that smacking children does in fact cause more harm than good. The researchers found smacking often “does the opposite” of what parents want and rarely results in increased immediate compliance by children. It was also shown that children who are smacked are more likely to exhibit higher levels of aggression and mental health problems as they grow up. </p>
<h2>Smacking and the law</h2>
<p>It is legal for a parent or carer to smack their own child in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as a form of “reasonable punishment”. This is despite the fact that current laws prohibit adults from smacking, pushing or shoving other adults – and also protect pets from violence. </p>
<p>Under the Children Act 2004, parents can smack their children provided it does not cause bruising, scratching or reddening of the skin. In this sense, the law limits the use of physical punishment, but it also sends out a dangerous message that it is legally acceptable to assault a child. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184526/original/file-20170904-17899-lysnae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184526/original/file-20170904-17899-lysnae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184526/original/file-20170904-17899-lysnae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184526/original/file-20170904-17899-lysnae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184526/original/file-20170904-17899-lysnae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184526/original/file-20170904-17899-lysnae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184526/original/file-20170904-17899-lysnae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spanking usually does more harm than good.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is at odds with many of our European neighbours – <a href="http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org">24 European countries have abolished</a> parents’ right to use any form of physical punishment. And yet unlike Austria, Croatia, Denmark or Norway, in the UK parents can still smack or hit as a form of punishment.</p>
<p>Police, lawyers and prosecutors have the difficult task of deciding when hitting is hurting a child – both physically and mentally. The <a href="https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/publications/item/overarching-principles-assault-on-children-and-cruelty-to-a-child-definitive-guideline/">visibility of bruising</a> is often used as a test of whether a smack has been too hard. But this is ineffective as different children have different colour skin and bruise in different ways. The current law also leaves things vague for parents, and makes it hard for them to know what degree of force (if any) it is okay to use. </p>
<h2>Lasting consequences</h2>
<p>An outright ban on physical punishment across the whole of the UK would be much easier to police. And it would also be consistent with the country’s obligations under <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx">international law</a> that children must be protected from all forms of physical or mental violence. </p>
<p>Technically, the fact that children can still be punished using physical and mental violence is in breach of the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx">UN Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>. This is something the United Nations has <a href="http://www.refworld.org/docid/460bc7772.html">urged the UK government to change</a> – instead encouraging and promoting positive, participatory and nonviolent forms of discipline and respect for a child’s equal right to human dignity and physical integrity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184528/original/file-20170904-31122-19omyqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184528/original/file-20170904-31122-19omyqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184528/original/file-20170904-31122-19omyqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184528/original/file-20170904-31122-19omyqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184528/original/file-20170904-31122-19omyqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184528/original/file-20170904-31122-19omyqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184528/original/file-20170904-31122-19omyqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Longitudinal studies show that spanking increases aggression in children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although at the time smacking can seem like a quick fix, it is clear it has long-lasting consequences. As the latest research shows, discipline involving the infliction of violence can be damaging to a child – both physically and emotionally. It is clear then that the legal acceptance of beating children must end, thereby putting the child in exactly the same position as adults and pets in respect of the law. </p>
<p>Ultimately, a ban on smacking would not only provide children with greater protection, but it would also let parents know clearly what is and isn’t acceptable when it comes to disciplining a child. But beyond all this, it would also help children to grow up happier and healthier – and what can possibly be more important than that?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83394/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raymond Arthur does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>And yet it’s still technically legal in the UK.Raymond Arthur, Professor of Law , Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/585662016-05-12T00:50:25Z2016-05-12T00:50:25ZHard evidence: spanking could lead to health problems, antisocial behavior<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122178/original/image-20160511-18128-mjg330.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Spanking is a common parenting practice in the U.S.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=VwLwL9L249GuCx2_YEuKqA&searchterm=parent%20hitting%20child&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=173523608">Father image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whether you are a parent who has occasionally spanked your child, an adult with recollections of childhood spanking or even an observer who has witnessed spanking in a public place, you likely have personal experience with the spanking of children for misbehavior.</p>
<p>Spanking remains a common parenting practice in the U.S. A nationally representative, long-term study of children beginning in kindergarten found that <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01732.x">80 percent of children had been spanked</a> by the time they reached third grade.</p>
<p>While we all may have our opinions about whether spanking “works” as a method of disciplining children, what does science tell us? And what are the average outcomes for children who are spanked? </p>
<p>Recently, we conducted a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27055181">“meta-analysis”</a> – a review of existing research on spanking – to answer these questions. We found that spanking significantly increases the risk of detrimental outcomes for children. While this finding does not mean that every child will experience problems as a result of spanking, it does mean that a large body of research has shown it significantly increases the risks for problems.</p>
<h2>Is there any evidence that spanking is good for children?</h2>
<p>We included data from 75 studies from the U.S. and 12 other countries that were conducted over a period of 50 years, which included over 160,000 children. We looked at the associations between spanking and several different child outcomes. </p>
<p>Spanking was not linked with better child behavior. Instead, we found spanking was linked with worse child behavior. Spanking was associated with 13 of the 17 outcomes we examined, and all showed spanking was linked with detrimental outcomes.</p>
<p>The more children were spanked, the more aggressive and antisocial they were. We also found that children who were spanked were more likely to have mental health problems, problematic relationships with their parents and lower cognitive ability. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122182/original/image-20160511-18123-1o7xr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122182/original/image-20160511-18123-1o7xr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122182/original/image-20160511-18123-1o7xr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122182/original/image-20160511-18123-1o7xr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122182/original/image-20160511-18123-1o7xr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122182/original/image-20160511-18123-1o7xr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122182/original/image-20160511-18123-1o7xr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spanking could lead to behavior problems later.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=y6oZejHvoKcKmEu9R_ZKWg&searchterm=problem%20behavior%20boys&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=298841363">Boy image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most troubling were our findings that children who were spanked were at significantly increased risk of being physically abused by their parents. In addition, the link between spanking and negative outcomes for children was two-thirds the size of the link between physical abuse and the same negative outcomes. </p>
<p>This could well mean that spanking and physical abuse are not categorically different behaviors but rather are points along a continuum of hitting children. </p>
<p>The findings of our study were incredibly consistent. Nearly all (99 percent) of the statistically significant effect sizes indicated a link between spanking and negative outcomes for children. </p>
<h2>Which comes first? Spanking or behavior problems?</h2>
<p>Our findings that spanking is linked with more problem behavior cannot prove that spanking causes the problems. It could well be that children with more problems elicit more spanking from their parents.</p>
<p>Clearly, we cannot do “randomized controlled trials” – that is, have a control group where children are spanked and another where they are not – to determine if spanking is the cause of children’s problem behaviors. So we depend upon statistics to know whether these outcomes are a result of spanking or a child’s behavior.</p>
<p>To tease apart this chicken-and-egg problem, several studies have looked to see if the link is entirely from children’s behavior to parents’ spanking rather than from parents to children. Studies with large samples and sophisticated statistics have found that when children are spanked, their behavior worsens over time, even when we account for many other factors, including the extent to which parents’ use of spanking is a reaction to children’s earlier problem behavior.</p>
<p>One such study, conducted by one of the authors (Gershoff), found that kindergartners with problem behaviors <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22304526">did elicit more spanking from parents over time</a>. However, spanking still predicted increases in problem behavior by third grade, over and above the extent to which children elicited spanking from their parents. </p>
<p>The second author of this article (Grogan-Kaylor) has worked with data from a large and national sample of children. He too found that corporal punishment was related to <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16203938">increases in children’s behavior problems</a> even when accounting for multiple other factors.</p>
<p>Results from other long-term studies also indicate that spanking predicts a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01341.x">worsening of child behaviors over time</a>, regardless of how problematic they are to start with. For example, researcher <a href="http://www.ssw.umaryland.edu/academics/faculty-bios/lisa-berlin/">Lisa Berlin</a> from the University of Maryland and her colleagues found that the more one-year-olds were spanked, the more aggression they showed one year later and the lower cognitive ability they showed two years later.</p>
<h2>When the parent is affectionate</h2>
<p>A common question is whether spanking is effective if used by an otherwise warm and loving parent.</p>
<p>One of the authors (Gershoff) and her colleagues analyzed data from a large study of parents and children and found that spanking increases problem behavior <a href="http://doi.org/10.1037/a0031630">regardless of how loving mothers are</a>. Love and affection did lead to increases in children’s positive behaviors over time, such as being caring, polite and responsible.</p>
<p>However, spanking did not lead to increases in these positive behaviors. Instead, spanking <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12306">predicted increases in problem behavior</a> over time, proving that hugs, not hits, help children become caring and responsible individuals. </p>
<p>Some researchers, such as <a href="http://www.psych.umass.edu/people/kirbydeater-deckard/">Kirby Deater-Deckard </a> and <a href="https://sanford.duke.edu/people/faculty/dodge-kenneth">Kenneth A. Dodge</a>, have argued that spanking <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01409.x">could have positive outcomes</a> when it is considered a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1448881?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">culturally accepted practice</a>. However, research in the ensuing two decades has not supported this idea. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122174/original/image-20160511-18157-dzsk4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122174/original/image-20160511-18157-dzsk4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122174/original/image-20160511-18157-dzsk4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122174/original/image-20160511-18157-dzsk4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122174/original/image-20160511-18157-dzsk4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122174/original/image-20160511-18157-dzsk4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122174/original/image-20160511-18157-dzsk4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Is spanking effective if the parent is otherwise warm and affectionate?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=OT7d4V-qz43C9sqg9f3XTw&searchterm=child%20crying&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=275130683">Parent image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Using the same long-term study of kindergartners cited above, one of us (Gershoff) found that spanking was used more often (which suggests that it was more acceptable culturally) in black families than in white, Latino, or Asian-American families, but <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01732.x">spanking predicted increases in behavior problems equally</a> across all four race and ethnic groups. Spanking was not “better” for children among groups that use it frequently.</p>
<p>A study we collaborated on using data from families in six different countries found spanking to be linked with <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20438455">higher aggression and anxiety</a>. This was true even when parents and children believed spanking was an accepted way of disciplining in their communities. Spanking is not linked with positive child behaviors, even when it is supported by the family’s culture.</p>
<h2>No reason to spank</h2>
<p>The evidence against spanking is so strong that the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/101/4/723.full.pdf">that parents not spank their children</a>. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has recommended that education campaigns and legislation <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/can-prevention-technical-package.pdf">be used with a goal of reducing spanking</a>. </p>
<p>The United Nations considers all forms of physical punishment to be violence and has <a href="http://www.refworld.org/docid/460bc7772.html">called for an end to the practice</a>. A total of <a href="http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org">49 countries have already banned all physical punishment</a> of children, including spanking by parents. </p>
<p>The message from academic, medical, public health and human rights organizations is one and the same: spanking is ineffective and potentially harmful to children. It should be avoided for the good of all children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58566/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Spanking does not lead to better behavior by children. Instead, it could lead to some adverse, long-term consequences.Elizabeth Gershoff, Professor of Psychology, The University of Texas at AustinAndrew Grogan-Kaylor, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/535422016-01-25T10:43:25Z2016-01-25T10:43:25ZIs it OK to spank a misbehaving child once in a while?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108898/original/image-20160121-9732-1qd4okf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What are the long-term effects of spanking?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/francisco_l/23978321172/in/photolist-CwTauy-dBotkT-4Znpqb-8JxzRw-26xSer-7YgjBm-9Q7Wdi-8JxzpS-8Juz8M-6emZ5Y-aDf4eZ-bRUQte-aDf4At-eXq9Hk-26xSdF-hcoyvP-ad9V4U-6bnbZR-deRGFa-egwDyz-asDT9j-dQL7wG-5N8vFP-7QLsuW-npp2cm-3pgvx-5ZM15w-asdXwr-6Z5DYa-qD2e2b-p4d9QF-cMzLS1-AM2fZ-8UfkGD-jBd8Kg-rdLwzU-4QmT2Y-9xZwSc-68wGJZ-9c7y1z-fuVgdc-p4rs4U-dh18DD-9zeLjB-6jKq4V-22o8pe-7D624g-59HSB5-5omuYC-qma2Nt">Francisco Luco</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Spanking, or, as it’s formally known, “corporal punishment,” has been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/09/ted-cruz-spanks-his-daughter-and-republicans-are-a-ok-with-that/">much in the news</a> of late. </p>
<p>Out on the presidential campaign trail there was Senator Ted Cruz’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/01/08/cruz-i-spank-my-daughter-when-she-lies-voters-can-administer-a-spanking-to-hillary-clinton/">revelation</a> that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If my daughter Catherine, the five-year-old, says something she knows to be false, she gets a spanking.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And recently, in Canada, following a call by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to prohibit spanking, the Liberal government has <a href="http://www.catholicregister.org/item/21603-questions-raised-about-liberal-promise-to-ban-spanking">promised to abolish</a> a parent’s right to physically discipline children. Along similar legal lines, in June 2015, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/01/04/sjc-rules-that-mass-can-withhold-foster-parenthood-from-couple-who-practiced-corporal-punishment/0JeCNel1W95EE9unjKuB9N/story.html">ruled that the state was justified</a> in denying foster parenting privileges to a couple who practiced corporal punishment and supported spanking or paddling children. The couple in the case had argued, unsuccessfully, that physical discipline was an integral aspect of their Christian faith. </p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/09/ted-cruz-spanks-his-daughter-and-republicans-are-a-ok-with-that/">recent Washington Post article</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>America is slowly growing less supportive of spanking children. But a majority of Americans still support it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, is it okay to spank a misbehaving child, every once in a while? </p>
<p>By way of personal disclosure, my wife and I don’t have children, and I try not to sit in lofty judgment of couples whose kids present very difficult behavioral problems. But as a psychiatrist, I can’t ignore the <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/125/5/e1057.long">overwhelming evidence</a> that corporal punishment, including spanking (which is usually defined as hitting a child with an open hand without causing physical injury), takes a serious toll on the mental health of children. </p>
<h2>Why parents spank children</h2>
<p>In a review of corporal punishment in the United States, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toledo <a href="http://www.utoledo.edu/med/depts/psych/pdf/Knox2014.pdf">Michelle Knox</a> noted a striking irony in the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20189062">American attitude</a> toward corporal punishment.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the United States, it is against the law to hit prisoners, criminals or other adults. Ironically, the only humans it is still legal to hit are the most vulnerable members of our society – those we are charged to protect – children.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108899/original/image-20160121-9743-1brglkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108899/original/image-20160121-9743-1brglkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108899/original/image-20160121-9743-1brglkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108899/original/image-20160121-9743-1brglkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108899/original/image-20160121-9743-1brglkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108899/original/image-20160121-9743-1brglkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108899/original/image-20160121-9743-1brglkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What makes parents spank kids?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/feminaerecta/542692574/in/photolist-PXrAw-88X85Q-4eQGXb-HiJxC-66NuGa-aCV26n-6YW14K-837obE-2PJdvW-rzzQPv-4Mx3hG-8QVe6A-9dTw8C-7j5xT8-6nvR2P-86qEXe-84FARF-nXGsup-8Tue5L-7ahJAo-84JHF3-4Mx3qN-92V17g-84FAXF-4RRDX1-aVmUBz-4tbQqW-9cgsyG-6vk92A-73V1WS-4Xshod-4Xo2nX-7abQBj-6cXWaY-rieDii-ri8kN1-s2mv68-8KzbkF-4iLpeY-9F3eaF-9G4gfx-9QjWTa-8mxH16-7H6kxP-ihsih-ikXHau-8FPC6f-8rtKUc-6jSfzL-8pSUi1">Lauren</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Knox, like many mental health professionals, cites a strong correlation between corporal punishment and child abuse, noting that “…spanking is often the first step in the cycle of child abuse.” </p>
<p>What may begin as the parent’s well-intentioned wish to discipline a child often ends with the parent’s mounting anger and worsening blows. </p>
<p>It isn’t that the parent is “evil” by nature or is a “child abuser.” Often, the parent has been stressed to breaking point, and is not aware of alternative methods of discipline – for example, the use of “time-outs,” removal of privileges and positive reinforcement of the child’s appropriate behaviors.</p>
<h2>Impact of spanking on children</h2>
<p>The psychological toll on children subjected to corporal punishment is well-documented.</p>
<p>In 2011, the <a href="https://www.napnap.org/about">National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNA)</a> <a href="http://www.jpedhc.org/article/S0891-5245%2806%2900410-X/fulltext">issued a statement</a> noting that, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Corporal punishment (CP) is an important risk factor for children developing a pattern of impulsive and antisocial behavior…[and] children who experience frequent CP… are more likely to engage in violent behaviors in adulthood.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similarly, the <a href="http://www.aacap.org/">American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry</a>, in a 2012 statement, <a href="https://www.aacap.org/aacap/policy_statements/2012/Policy_Statement_on_Corporal_Punishment.aspx">concluded</a> that, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>…although corporal punishment may have a high rate of immediate behavior modification, it is ineffective over time, and is associated with increased aggression and decreased moral internalization of appropriate behavior. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In short, spanking a child may seem helpful in the short term, but is ineffective and probably harmful in the long term. The child who is often spanked learns that physical force is an acceptable method of problem solving.</p>
<h2>Parents vs. researchers</h2>
<p>But wait: aren’t there exceptions to these general findings? Aren’t there times when a light rap on the backside can do a misbehaving child some good – or at least, not cause any significant harm? </p>
<p>Many parents think so, but most specialists would say there is little evidence to support such claims. That said, <a href="http://www.calvin.edu/directory/people/marjorie-lindner-gunnoe">Dr Marjorie Gunnoe, a professor of psychology</a> at Calvin College, and her colleague, <a href="http://www.childtrends.org/our-research/research-by-author/">Carrie Lea Mariner</a> <a href="http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=518459">published a study</a> in 1997 that concluded that, “for most children, claims that spanking teaches aggression seem unfounded.”</p>
<p>Gunnoe and Mariner argued that the effects of spanking may depend on the “meaning” children ascribe to it. For example, spanking perceived by the child as parental aggression (as opposed to nonaggressive limit setting) may be associated with subsequent aggressive behavior by the child. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108902/original/image-20160121-9754-z4dhnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108902/original/image-20160121-9754-z4dhnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108902/original/image-20160121-9754-z4dhnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108902/original/image-20160121-9754-z4dhnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108902/original/image-20160121-9754-z4dhnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108902/original/image-20160121-9754-z4dhnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108902/original/image-20160121-9754-z4dhnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spanking can lead to child aggression.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/imagesbywestfall/3606314694/in/photolist-6uFiHy-gty2L3-9sVXg-ueFviK-2kNCax-dtmEYC-89Pvty-6AgrAE-A5sz6x-7cWUra-ztCBQz-z2pauD-7Q5nqN-avWA7d-4UbREn-jsYgBq-aUNSiX-6ggWJh-s2T93f-8f2SHu-e9F3p3-our6D6-8f2SQd-8eYAhr-6JMMkb-7LQBv7-cqmX8N-3on3tr-rTrdLP-7Kpgrc-8eYAfn-8j4m2u-BFadvF-6kTiJr-9xTYT1-8QSiat-73V9RR-c3wbi9-8f2SSJ-7UZ4g5-uwrac5-8f2SFd-7fX9y6-4uneNr-831FM5-6wtTJE-dPGFBm-kAtMgr-72nQzm-qhfG9n">Greg westfall</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And, to be sure, some parents have <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/nfl-controversy/adrian-peterson-case-some-parents-say-spankings-improved-them-n206516">argued</a> that it is the misbehavior of children that leads to spanking – not the reverse. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, there is a <a href="http://www.jpedhc.org/article/S0891-5245%2806%2900410-X/fulltext">strong</a> <a href="https://www.aacap.org/aacap/policy_statements/2012/Policy_Statement_on_Corporal_Punishment.aspx">consensus</a> in the mental health community that any form of corporal punishment can cause harm. </p>
<p><a href="https://tulane.edu/publichealth/chs/faculty_c_taylor.cfm">Dr Catherine A Taylor</a> (of Tulane University) and colleagues <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/125/5/e1057">concluded</a> in a 2010 review that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>…even minor forms of corporal punishment, such as spanking, increase risk for increased child aggressive behavior.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Furthermore, clinical studies have shown that reducing parents’ use of corporal punishment can <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/125/5/e1057#ref-57">reduce children’s subsequent aggression</a>. </p>
<p>Parents who believe they have no alternative except to spank their misbehaving children do not need finger-wagging lectures from clinicians.</p>
<p>But they do need professional support and education, aimed at reducing their level of stress and increasing their use of alternatives to corporal punishment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53542/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ronald W. Pies does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Senator Ted Cruz recently stated that he spanks his five-year-old daughter for lying. Spanking kids can cause tremendous damage to kids’ mental health – even if it is an occasional light rap.Ronald W. Pies, Professor of Psychiatry, Lecturer on Bioethics & Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.