Parents are often in a quandary about how to handle a child who acts contrary at best and possessed at worst. Most moms and dads have tried all kinds of approaches — from time-out to a freeze on privileges, from a good talking-to and the silent treatment. Some parents apply a few whacks to the posterior as a first resort; others do so as a last-ditch effort to change a kid’s behavior. What’s best?
The research on spanking is a mixed bag, notes Dr. Ellen Slicker, professor of professional counseling at Middle Tennessee State University and private-practice psychologist. Slicker says it’s not unusual, especially in the South, to hear a parent tell a child to go outside and get a branch from the willow tree.
“The parent will say, ‘I got whoopins when I was kid, and I turned out alright.’ Hitting a child for any reason is not a healthy practice,” she says.
Slicker cites Dr. Murray Straus, a leading researcher on this topic, who found that “the more a person was disciplined with corporal punishment as a child, the more likely that partner abuse would be found in that child’s later relationships It appears that the more severe, frequent and prolonged the physical punishment, the worse the outcome.
“With these children comes the increased likelihood for depression, suicide, alcohol abuse and abuse of their own children (‘intergenerational transmission’) over those individuals who did not receive corporal punishment as children.”