Why is corporal punishment bad

With these new findings, we also know it can have potential impact on brain development, changing biology, and leading to lasting consequences.

The study looked at children, including some who were spanked and some who were not spanked in the beginning years of their lives, to see potential differences to the brain. By using MRI assessment, researchers observed changes in brain response while the children viewed a series of images featuring facial expressions that indicate emotional response, such as frowns and smiles. They found that children who had been spanked had a higher activity response in the areas of their brain that regulate these emotional responses and detect threats — even to facial expressions that most would consider non-threatening.

There are only 62 countries — not including the United States — with a ban on corporal punishment, Cuartas points out. Additionally, nearly one-third of parents in the United States report spanking their children every week, often to detrimental effects and implications. Cuartas offers three steps educators and caregivers can take toward eradicating spanking in schools and homes:. Skip to main content.

Research Stories. Spanking found to impact children's brain response, leading to lasting consequences. By: Jill Anderson. Posted: April 13, Corporal punishment and child abuse are both on the same violence continuum.

The child abuse rate of parents who approve of physical punishment is four times higher than that of parents who do not approve of physical punishment. There are a number of reasons why this is so. They may not be aware of alternative, more effective forms of discipline. Violence begets violence. They lash out without thinking first about what else they could do.

It is easier to hit a child if you see it being done all around you. Consequently, they expect their children to act more maturely than they are capable of behaving. These unrealistic expectations can lead to frustration and anger. When parents hit their children, they are usually responding impulsively and in anger, using the primitive part of their brain, rather than engaging the more advanced part of the brain where restraint and judgment occur.

Most parents do not hit their children when they are calm and have rationally thought through how best to respond. Spanking will only serve to strongly interfere with any possible desirable parenting goals you may have. It will create many more problems than it will ever solve! Parents may try to justify physical punishment by saying that what they do is not severe. All levels of violence against children, including all the varied forms of corporal punishment, are hurtful and harmful.

So what are the specific implications of disciplining children by physically assaulting them, whether gently or moderately or severely or brutally? Read on. In , the Canadian Medical Journal Association published an analysis of over 80 studies documenting the effects of corporal punishment on children; not one found any positive long-term effect, and there were many detrimental effects Glenn.

Children whose parents use corporal punishment are more likely to engage in future domestic violence and to perpetuate the cycle in their families by hitting their own children because that was what was taught to them. Once again, violence begets violence Marshall 38, In , The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly opposed the use of physical punishment to discipline children and recommends that parents develop methods other than corporal punishment in response to undesired behavior, adding:.

The strongest link between corporal punishment and IQ occurs when parents continue to hit their children into their teen years. Hitting a child puts him at greater risk of developing depression, substance abuse, and aggressiveness. In another study, it was found that delinquent youth were invariably harshly disciplined Marshall, One study found that of cases of caretakers charged with murdering their children, two-thirds of them did not set out to impose severe forms of corporal punishment; yet their actions ultimately killed the children Hyman p.

Research conducted at Southern Methodist University shows that in most cases, the offending behavior resumed within ten minutes of spanking, which is why spanking has to be repeated so often — the children are not learning the lessons the parents want them to learn. Following are a few studies that reflect this lack of internal controls among children who are victims of corporal punishment Hyman p. Preschoolers who are hit by their parents are more likely to be impulsive and aggressive than those who are not.

Frequent and harsh corporal punishment can also cause young children to bottle up their feelings of fear, anger, and hostility; in later life, these children are unusually prone to aggressive behavior or suicidal thoughts, suicide, and depression.

The negative results of using corporal punishment indicate that any short-term benefit in temporary compliance that comes from frightening a child with the threat or act of being hit carries too high an emotional price. Corporal punishment shames the child. Hitting and other forms of corporal punishment cause the child to feel that there is inherently something wrong with him, rather than understanding that it was his behavior that was wrong.

Instead of focusing on the mistakes he might have made, he is filled with shame. Corporal punishment undermines the development of trust. Children do not learn constructive ways to resolve differences. It teaches children that hitting is an acceptable response when angry and models violence as an acceptable way of solving problems. Children learn that a stronger person can hit a weaker person. Children learn that the people who love them also will hurt them.

This causes confusion and anxiety for them and can ultimately lead to their becoming involved in abusive relationships with peers and other close relationships throughout their childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The AACAP recommends non-violent methods of addressing inappropriate behavior in schools, such as behavior management and school-wide positive behavior supports.

Corporal punishment signals to the child that a way to settle interpersonal conflicts is to use physical force and inflict pain. Such children may in turn resort to such behavior themselves.

They may also fail to develop trusting, secure relationships with adults and fail to evolve the necessary skills to settle disputes or wield authority in less violent ways.

Supervising adults who will-fully humiliate children and punish by force and pain are often causing more harm than they prevent.