If certain omitted variables are correlated with both, we may confound the two effects, that is, inappropriately attribute an effect to spanking. For example, parents who spank their children may be weaker parents overall, and spanking is simply one way in which this difference in parenting quality manifests itself.
So: are parents who spank their children different on other dimensions of parenting? There are two designated items for corporal punishment.
One self-reported item indicates how many times, if any, the mother hit her child during the previous week. The other item indicates whether the mother hit her child during the home observation. Figure 2 shows the distribution of responses, where N,N refers to a mother who did not hit her child in the previous week or during the observation.
Nearly two-thirds of mothers reported spanking their children at least once in the two-week period. Scoring the HOME scale is straightforward. Each positive behavior earns the mother one point. For the purposes of the corporal punishment items: If the mother is not observed hitting her child, she gains a point.
If she reports hitting her child no more than one time during the previous week, she gains a point. If both, she gains two points. If neither, her score is unchanged. Of course, given this mechanical relationship, it is inappropriate to compare raw HOME scores between mothers who hit their children and mothers who do not. To make a meaningful comparison requires removing any items on spanking from the scale.
Figure 3 shows the results of such an exercise. As expected, the gaps between mothers who hit and do not hit decrease by about one for both items. After all, there is a big difference between spanking your child once a month and spanking him or her twice a day, or spanking lightly with an open hand versus aggressively with a belt. While we cannot observe spanking intensity, we do observe frequency in the data.
Therefore, we replicate the above exercise in two ways—by frequency of spanking in the previous week Figure 4 and by frequency across the two weeks Figure 5. Although sample size limitations prevent us from looking at mothers who reported hitting their children more than five times in the previous week, it is clear that—at least up until five—there is little evidence of any relationship between spanking and HOME score, even taking frequency in to account.
At most, there is a one point gap between mothers who did not report hitting their children in the past week and those who reported hitting them at least five times, but this result is swamped by the corresponding standard deviations. Looking across weeks, the conclusion is the same. Politics Covid U. News World Opinion Business. Share this —. Follow NBC News. By Maggie Fox. American Academy of Pediatrics strengthens stance against spanking Nov.
Health Many Americans approve of spanking. If you hit your child, the physical pain will heal but the emotional pain will stay with him forever. He may feel bad about himself and it may affect his self-esteem and confidence. The more you hit him, the more he will commit mistakes, which in turn will make him feel bad about himself. If you hit your child frequently, he will be scared once or twice, but after one point, he may become a rebel.
He will know that the worst that you will do is hit him, so he might flout your commands and do as he likes. A child who is beaten often by his parents also develops anger issues. As a parent, you will feel angry if your child does something wrong, but if you beat him for little things, you will sow the seeds of anger in your child too.
Your child may even develop emotional issues while growing up. Children who are subjected to corporal punishment as they grew up are more likely to exhibit antisocial and even egocentric behaviour in their adulthood. This leads to them using similar methods on their children and feeling detached, or even disdain towards their parents. Spanking does not have any benefits in terms of development. No good can come out of using the rod on your child; in fact, you may end up scarring your child for life.
They develop behavioural problems because of the way they are treated. If your child does something wrong, instead of yelling or hitting him, there are a few other strategies that you can try to discipline him.
There are many other discipline strategies which can actually help the child develop, and gain respect for himself — so try those instead and say no to hitting! Sign in. Forgot your password? Get help. Create an account. Password recovery. FirstCry Parenting.
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