Bill Cosby

Writing 102

April 9, 1999

Research Argument

Physical Punishment Produces Negative Effects In Children

According to the research of Dr. Murray Straus, a sociologist at the University of New Hampshire, "About 90 percent of parents use some form of corporal punishment on toddlers, and about 50 percent continue to use it during the early teen years, despite a growing body of evidence that spanking does not positively affects a child's behavior and result in increased aggressive and delinquent behavior" (Kirchner 798). These are the same results hundreds of experiments carried out by doctors in the United States came up with. Yet we as adults still use corporal punishment, or spanking, as a method of punishment for children. Personally, I cannot understand how hitting or beating a child can teach him or her a lesson about controlling his or her behavior. Sure, a spanking would cause the child to be fearful of misbehaving later, but did the spanking really teach the child a lesson? The child will learn either to avoid misbehaving around the parent, or misbehave later in the parent's absence, perhaps at school.

I strongly believe that parents who spank their children do it to help prepare them for the future and to teach them valuable lessons. However, regardless of the motives of the parent, physical punishment tends to produce the reverse effect, and causes the child to develop a negative attitude. (Straus 1470j). The primary negative effects that physical punishment has on children are psychological. It has been concluded through experiments that corporal punishment tends to produce antisocial behavior. Characteristics of an antisocial child includes bullying, cheating, lying, vandalism, and a tendency to cause problems with teachers at school (“Spanking and Misbehavior"). I can recall the one time when I was spanked and the way it affected me in the very near future. From that point, whenever my parents asked me about something that was missing or broken I knew was my fault, I would lie about not knowing anything. I can honestly say that had my punishment not been a spanking, I would not have hesitated to tell my parents the truth. However, I am just a mild example of the characteristics that spanking can produce.

Spanking not only occurs in homes, but it also occurs in schools. In 1996, twenty-six states permitted spanking students in school. It was mainly used on elementary school students (Romeo 1). The procedure for spankings are different compared to those in the home. In the school environment, "The child is told to turn around and one adult [of two adults present] paddles the child, while the other serves as a witness. The adult administering the paddle may be the principal, a person the child does not know, or the teacher" (Romeo 1). It is bad enough that the child is being paddled, but the idea that the person doing the paddling may be a complete stranger is absurd. I think schools should serve strictly as educational facilities and should not have the right to practice any type corporal punishment. Paddling not only tends to make the child worse, but according to Dr. Felicia Romeo, a nationally renowned psychologist at Florida Atlantic University, "...emotions fuel the child with a desire to 'get even' or 'right the wrong' and by so doing, restore the child's self‑esteem and feelings of helplessness. Often, the child is returned to the classroom humiliated but not defeated. Instead of concentrating upon the instruction, the child may imagine acts of aggression upon the teacher" (Romeo 2). When I was in elementary school, students were paddled everyday with big, thick paddles. Some teachers abused their "privilege" by making a spanking their first resort. As Romeo said, the students tended to rebel and get even with the teachers by acting deviant and doing annoying things such as constantly disrupting the class. As the students persisted to get even, the teacher gave them a paddling. This was an ongoing cycle that intensified throughout the school year.

There are other factors besides lying and other deviant behaviors to be considered in the long-term effect of spanking. According to a list of the negative effects of spanking comprised by the Parent Connection, a parent support group, "It [spanking] could lead to child abuse" ("The Parent Connection"). I have witnessed in the past how parents have gone to the extreme to use extension cords, shoes, thin tree limbs, belts, and even cutting boards to discipline their children. All of these objects can cause serious injuries to a child. Personally, my greatest fear in witnessing a spanking is the possibility that it may emerge into some form of child abuse, which produces many of the same side effects as spanking. Like spanking, child abuse produces antisocial behavior and other psychological symptoms. Also according to the Parent Connection, spanking produces the likelihood for a child to be an abusive spouse ("Pediatric Experts..." 2). I think that this long‑term side effect would be quite predictable. After a child has developed the bullying, lying, cheating, and cruel characteristics of an antisocial person, of course he or she would be likely to smack his or her spouse around.

According to Dr. Straus, corporal punishment has contributed to the level of violence in the United States today (Lemonick 65). As I look back on my childhood, my peers who were heavily spanked as children are either in prison or dead. When they were around the age of thirteen, the spankings that their parents had given them began to be non‑effective. At this point, they began to rebel against their parents by staying in trouble and constantly producing expenses to keep their parents in debt. Their adaptive behaviors towards physical punishment coincided with the results in an experiment reported in Adolescence magazine. Its results stated that "this study investigated signs of mental distress in a large sample of adolescents who reported receiving physical punishment from their parents. Adolescents who perceived their parents as being accustomed to using physical punishment reported higher levels of psychiatric symptoms (higher BSI scores) [Brief Symptom Inventory, a brief psychological self report scale] and lower levels of well-being (lower GWB scores ) [General Well-Being Scale, a self-report instrument designed to assess aspects of subjective well-being and distress]. These findings point to the adolescents and to quantity and cumulative factors" (Bacher 945). Also, studies have been done to show that the relationship between parents and their children did not produce any alteration in the effects that physical punishment has on the mental health of children (Bachar 4). In one of the studies, children who received spankings were asked questions to examine how violent their parents were. Those children who had nonviolent parents scored much higher on the BSI and GWB test (Bachar 4). 1 would have been able to predict the outcome of this experiment. Of course, if a child has a weak relationship with his or her parent and the violent parent carries out the violent act of spanking, which would greatly upset the child and further weaken the parental bond. If the parent(s) is (are) violent, the spanking could have just been an act of aggression on the part of the parent. Punishment could have nothing to do with a violent parent spanking a child.

There are many alternatives to spanking. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics "...any disciplinary action must take place in the context of ‘a positive, supportive, loving relationship between the parent(s) and child.’ In such a home environment, parental praise or displeasure is ‘likely to have the greatest effect because the parent's approval is important to the children’." Irwin Hyman, director of the National Center for the Study of Corporal Punishment and professor of psychology at Temple University, believes that spanking should never have to be used under any circumstances (Hyman 73). He goes even farther to suggest that corporal punishment be made illegal for the good of our society. He offers alternative methods such as the rewards system and the time out method (Hyman 73). Today in school and years ago when I was a child, those were very effective methods. The reward system causes the child to act and do positive things since he or she knows that he or she will be receiving something positive in return. The time out system worked well in my home and in school. I have had these alternatives used on myself and I have used them on my jobs as a school bus driver and in tutoring sessions at a primary school. It exposes a child to what I believe is his or her worst enemy: boredom.

During my experiences with children, I have found the time out method to be the most effective. As a former tutor and teacher cadet, I had to teach and regulate a second grade class alone. Of course, as in any primary class, I had about three troublemakers. As a result of their misbehavior, I had to form a method of punishment that would not only affect the children but that would also set a god example for the rest of the class not to misbehave. So, I sat chairs in the comers of the classroom and made them sit there during their recess. Spanking was not an option for me, as it was for the teacher. But even had it been an option, I would have chosen my method of punishment. Although spanking involves usually painful physical contact, I was sure that the shame and embarrassment those children felt hurt them just as much.

Although spanking does produce negative long-term side effects, not everyone feels the same way about how it affects children. Some people believe that certain motives should be considered when using physical punishment to make it positively effective. According to a survey, "Parents who obtained better outcomes associated with the use of physical punishment were positively involved with their children, ...had child-oriented motivation, did not increase the child's fear of parental discipline, followed through with their warnings, and cooperated with each other in discipline responsibilities" (Larzelere 3). The rest of the world and I would love to live in this type of household. However, in my opinion, those motives for spankings are not realistic. I believe parents would try to keep those motives in consideration for a while, but over time, the motives would be weakened and later not even be considered. Another study, done by Dr. Den Trumball, a pro-spanking Montgomery, Alabama pediatrician, reports that "...corporal punishment is effective and not harmful to youngsters between 18 months and 6 years" (Lemonick 65). However, I fully agree with the opposing argument by Dr. Murray Straus that says "It is plausible to argue that [corporal punishment] of toddlers will have a greater effect [than it does on older kids] because it occurs at a crucial developmental stage" (Lemonick 65). Dr. Trumball actually suggested spanking a child at eighteen months, which in my opinion is like spanking a baby. It is immoral.

Studies have now shown that spanking is much more effective with black children than with white children, The studies suggested that disciplinary problems decreased among black children who receive corporal punishment, but it increased antisocial behavior among white children ("Study Reveals Black..."). The study reported that “...white children interpret discipline as hostility and black children see it as an expression of concern" ("Study Reveals Black..."). Well, these studies were obviously not done in my neighborhood. Most spankings of Black children that I witnessed as a child later caused the children to rebel against the parent in later years. I have never known a Black child that thought the reasons for his or her spanking were out of parental concern and I really do not think I ever will. In addition, I find it offensive to suggest that children of some races are more likely to benefit from being hit than others.

Corporal punishment has been around for centuries. Some forms of corporal punishment have been more severe than other ones. Some parents have used it as a last resort for misbehavior and some parents have used it as an immediate response to misbehavior. Either motive, in my opinion, is a violent act. In the past I have witnessed spankings and I cannot recall one that I felt taught the child a lesson. If spankings teach a child anything, it is how to fear. I have also witnessed times when it has gotten really out of hand and became an act of child abuse. Judging from the spanking that I have witnessed in the past and those I have witnessed very recently, I think corporal punishment should be made illegal. Today, parents are much younger compared to those who were born as Baby Boomers in the mid-1900's. I have observed that younger teenaged parents tend to spank their children more frequently and violently than older, more mature parents. Some parents, even in my own family, have resorted to slapping and punching. How does this type of behavior from the parent teach the child a lesson about the right way to behave? I could not and would not ever spank my children. I advise future mother, fathers, and guardians never to do the same. Spanking is an act of violence and violence begets violence.