Several studies claim children who are spanked will be violent and use physical abuse to control others when they grow up. While it was common for children raised between the 1950s and the 1990s to be spanked with their parent’s hand or whipped with a belt, the practice is less common today. Many lament the demise of spanking saying they got many spankings and turned out just fine. Opponents of spanking children point out that pregnant women drinking alcohol and smoking was considered safe, normal and socially acceptable until research showed it was dangerous to the developing child. The same is true of spankings and whippings. It impairs the young person’s development. Instead of teaching them to obey and behave properly, it teaches them to use violence to control smaller, weaker people. The University of Texas Medical Branch conducted a study with 800 adults. It revealed the majority of those adults who were physically violent were spanked or whipped by their parents. The University of Texas Medical Branch psychiatry professor Jeff Temple, the study’s lead author said, “Regardless of whether someone experienced child abuse or not, spanking alone was predictive of dating violence.”
Many parents opt for spankings over solid discipline because it’s easier. They don’t have to dissect the challenging mental, emotional and social issues causing the child to misbehave. They simply hit the child and tell them stop misbehaving. Scientists say the message the child receives is hitting others is acceptable. They internalize this and are at risk of becoming abusive adults. People learned from their ancestors that putting tobacco, alcohol and other drugs into pregnant bodies is a mistake. However, hitting children is still acceptable. Scientists say parents spank their children for the emotional and retaliatory release it provides. But children would be better served if parents took time to find the cause of the child’s problem rather than just hitting them. Dr. Denise Cummins, in an article published in Psychology Today, said parents are not only bigger in size than children, but their brains are fully developed, allowing them to be more capable of self-control.
Many parents see the results of bigger kids beating up smaller kids firsthand. However, they still physically abuse their children who are smaller than they are. Dr. Cummins said, “When a parent tries to get children to behave better by hitting them, the parent is telling them hitting people who are smaller and weaker than you is an acceptable way of getting what you want from them. Why should it surprise the parent when their child beats up smaller children at school or grow up to be wife beaters?” When parents punish children by hitting them, the child often becomes angry, resentful of adults and end up having psychological and emotional problems. Dr. Cummins explained, “A large meta-analysis of studies on the effects of punishment found the more physical punishment children receive, the more defiant they are toward parents and authorities, the poorer their relationships with parents, the more likely they are to report hitting a dating partner or spouse. They are also more likely to suffer mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression, and substance abuse problems, and less likely to empathize with others or internalize norms of moral behavior.”
