Submitted by Kimberly Dienes, guest blogger.
This week on Wednesday, the state Appellate Division of New York determined that open-hand spanking of an 8-year-old boy at a party was ‘a reasonable use of force.’ According to an article published on the case in the New York Daily News, the perspective that spanking does not constitute “excessive corporal punishment” is a common finding in courts across the country, regardless of the type of spanking (hand, spoon, or paddle), and the frequency and duration of spanking (several times a day, once a week, one spank, 37 spanks). After yet another case involving child corporal punishment has hit the courts, we must turn once again to the question of whether child corporal punishment should be regulated, or perhaps even prohibited, by law.
The moral issue of child corporal punishment has been hotly debated, with people on either side arguing on the basis of personal experience, race, religion and culture. However, personal opinion aside, when we address this issue in our lives or in our laws it’s important to recognize several facts that have been well established in psychological research: a) spanking doesn’t work nearly as well as other behavioral techniques and b) it leads to immediate and long term negative consequences for the child.
Spanking is a form of behavioral modification called “positive punishment.” If you want to increase the frequency of behaviors you engage in reinforcement, positive or negative. If you want to decrease the frequency of behaviors you engage in punishment, positive or negative. Positive refers to adding a stimulus, negative to taking it away. Some examples are: giving gold stars in class for good behavior (positive reinforcement), cleaning your room to avoid mom’s nagging (negative reinforcement), spanking to reduce cursing (positive punishment), taking away allowance to reduce cursing (negative punishment). The majority of child psychological research suggests that reinforcement works better than punishment for learning. Punishment is moderately effective when employed immediately and consistently, but otherwise it just doesn’t work. Reinforcement is much stronger as a behavioral modification technique for children (interesting study on why).
Secondly, research has shown that spanking leads to a host of negative consequences. There is a wonderful meta-analysis by Gershoff (2002), where she summarizes the results from 88 studies on child corporal punishment and clearly supports point b. She reports that corporal punishment does result in immediate compliance (sometimes), but also immediate aggression. Corporal punishment actually reduces long-term compliance, and increases long-term aggression and antisocial behavior. There are a number of articles out there about the negative mental health effects of spanking as well.
Statements a and b are relatively well known and empirically supported, however the question remains whether the legislative branch of the United States should regulate child corporal punishment. 31 countries worldwide, with Sweden leading the way, have passed legislation to prohibit all child corporal punishment, with the US as a notable exception. The US is one of two countries along with Somalia that hasn’t ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that recognizes the human rights of persons under 18. Approximately 90% of American parents have spanked their children according to polls from 1999 and 2005, and rates are relatively consistent. No US state prohibits corporal punishment, although 31 states and the District of Columbia do prohibit corporal punishment in schools. Most states do have statutes addressing child corporal punishment. Alaska has my favorite statute, because what on earth could constitute reasonable and appropriate non-deadly force (and incompetent people?! But that is another issue)?
“When and to the extent reasonably necessary and appropriate to promote the welfare of the child or incompetent person, a parent, guardian, or other person entrusted with the care and supervision of a child under 18 years of age or an incompetent person may use reasonable and appropriate non deadly force upon that child or incompetent person”
Most states have statutes against excessive corporal punishment of a child. This begs the question of what exactly is excessive corporal punishment? Straus and Gershoff provide reasonable definitions of corporal punishment:
“Corporal punishment is the use of physical force with the intention of causing a child to experience pain but not injury for the purposes of correction or control of the child’s behavior” (p. 4).
“Behaviors that do not result in significant physical injury (e.g., spank, slap) are considered corporal punishment, whereas behaviors that risk injury (e.g., punching, kicking, burning) are considered physical abuse.” (p. 564)
But a spank or a slap can result in significant physical injury depending on a number of factors. Further, it is almost impossible to determine cutoffs for mild, moderate, and excessive corporal punishment. In clinical practice, we are mandated to report anything that might leave a mark…but, for how long? How much of a mark? Is spanking once a week ok? What about spanking once a week, but with a wooden spoon, and lasting for an hour? The marks might be gone the next day and let’s face it, can be very well hidden. What about how hard the individual hits? I know that a wooden spoon in the hands of a heavy weight boxer intent on mayhem is a whole lot different than a wooden spoon in the hands of my 94-year-old grandma.
When a child has bruises and broken bones we are relatively certain excessive corporal punishment has occurred, but how do we determine what is acceptable when we get into the grey area where spanking resides? What about those mild and moderate corporal punishment categories where a child still suffers but isn’t going to the hospital? Who is going to take into account frequency, duration, strength of perpetrator, age of child, mechanism etc. of spanking and tell us that it is “acceptable?” I cannot conceive of a failsafe algorithm that would tell us whether a spanking is acceptable.
Therefore, based on the statements that spanking doesn’t work as a behavior technique, it leads to negative consequences for our children immediately and later on in life, countries who have banned it have shown very positive consequences, and that it is almost impossible to provide general criteria for excessive corporal punishment, why don’t we just prohibit spanking all together and create some legislation to that effect?
Sadly, realistically speaking, I don’t see us going black and white and banning all child corporal punishment any time soon on a countrywide basis. One argument against it is that we would be arresting 90% of parents. However, in Sweden, the social service representatives don’t immediately arrest parents for spanking their children, they will tell them it’s against the law and give them some support materials; and the transition to uphold the new legislation was moderate and smooth. But we aren’t Sweden. Assuming, knowing the US, that we aren’t going the route of Sweden, we can start with good personal steps. Can’t we as individuals realize that irrespective of whether spanking is ethically unacceptable, it really doesn’t work? Research has shown that parents who read literature illustrating how useless spanking is a behavioral technique tend to stop doing it or at least reduce the frequency, so let’s start there. Then let’s get some state legislation going against child corporal punishment.
Take a look at the definition of child corporal punishment above. Corporal punishment involves causing a child pain. I bet we can think of something better to do to help our children learn.
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Rafflaw: My father-in-law who was raised in Dublin, despised nuns to his dieing day because of their cruelty.
Squeekers, that sounds a bit over the top. Do you really see this as a positive in the life of a child?
Mespo: Yeh, Pat was pretty forthcoming about how he would suckerpunch people in a heartbeat.
Annie:
” I asked my parents why they used corporal punishment as young parents and they said it was stress, frustration and an accepted method of discipline, plus the fundamentalist church they belonged to preached to spare the rod was to spoil the child. ”
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Beating with divine sanction. Hard to fight against that.
My parents were from the old world and spanked, occasionally my father used a belt. It was abusive and cruel and unecessary. I swore I would never strike a child of mine in such a manner. I’m glad to say that my parents made the best grandparents to my children and their other brandchildren and never struck them, much less spoke harshly to them. I asked my parents why they used corporal punishment as young parents and they said it was stress, frustration and an accepted method of discipline, plus the fundamentalist church they belonged to preached to spare the rod was to spoil the child. What drek.
Squeeky:
” “Three Strikes”. I went to a Baptist private school, and they paddled us when we were bad. Then when I got home, my mom would spank me. Then when my father got home, I got it again. Let me tell you, misbehaving just wasn’t no fun at all.”
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Pretty sad stuff there, Squeeky. Might be worth talking to a professional if that’s true and not hyperbole.
RTC:
Those Buchanans sure grew up right. Here’s what NYT columnist Maureen Dowd who grew up in the shadow of the Buchanan Boys of DC thought on 9/7/1995:
Blade Buchanan scares me.
I mean Pat Buchanan, but that’s what he was called in our neighborhood. He was awarded the moniker by a friend’s mother who dismissed him as a “gay blade.” These days, he is an un-gay blade.
But back in the ’50s, he and his brawling brothers were the scourge of Washington’s Catholic community. Boys at parochial schools all over the city would huddle on Monday mornings to whisper about the latest Buchanan hooliganism. Did you hear how they crashed a party and beat everyone up? Did you hear how they stuffed a hapless drunk in Ocean City into a garbage can and rolled him into the sea?
“We regarded the Buchanan boys with the same awe and fear that Romanian peasants spoke of vampires,” said my brother Michael.
(…)
My brother Martin – who fled into the night when Pat’s brothers asked for help in throwing a motorcycle over a wall – assured me: “Some bullies are cowards, but the Buchanans were not. They were extremely intelligent and a little crazy. You knew if you got into a fight with them, you’d better be ready to fight.”
Who says Pat’s not a card carrying member of the Republican Family Values coalition? I’ll fight any man who does!!
Professor,
I grew up with the Nuns and the idea of corporal punishment was a mainstay in their repertoire. I didn’t like it then and I am glad that many states outlaw it now.
I meant to add that the most effective corrective action my wife has for getting kids under control is what she calls the “Mommy Squeeze”, where she grips the child by the forearm and squeezes. Works like a charm.
Kimberly: Welcome back. Interesting topic
In his autobiography, Right From the Start, Pat Buchanan relates how his dad would use his belt indiscriminately to enforce discipline among his three sons. However, if the other stories about Buchanan and his brothers are true, I wouldn’t judge the elder Buchanan so harshly.
My wife, like Nick’s daughter, works as a nanny and she has degree in child development. She says that there are occasions when a “potch” on the tush is necessary, like when a child is throwing an all-out tantrum, but those occasions should be rare. She’s absolutely convinced that violence begets violence down the road.
Oxa:
“Sounds like a Psychology 101 term paper.”
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A tad harsh wouldn’t you say? It’ s only her second day on the job. Save that for the old timers. We’re used to it.
Well, in the South they have their own version of “Three Strikes”. I went to a Baptist private school, and they paddled us when we were bad. Then when I got home, my mom would spank me. Then when my father got home, I got it again. Let me tell you, misbehaving just wasn’t no fun at all.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
KImberly:
“But a spank or a slap can result in significant physical injury depending on a number of factors. Further, it is almost impossible to determine cutoffs for mild, moderate, and excessive corporal punishment.”
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Thanks for the good work. I do take issue with your second statement however. I think it’s very easy to determine the sufficiency of the corporal punishment. A mild pop to the child’s derriere merely to get the child’s attention (no small feat) meets the definition of mild; a moderate one would bring water to the eyes and beyond that it is excessive assuming a genuine reaction from the child. I never had a problem disciplining my kids this way and it never extended beyond their first day of school when depriving them of privileges worked. I think the vast majority of parents know the difference and employ the method as such. That doesn’t mean all parents get it or that a few aren’t releasing pent up aggression.
As for making the kids overly aggressive, I’ve seen no evidence of that in either of my sons though both played sports and were accomplished baseball and football players. Appropriate aggression is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. But inappropriate corporal punishment? It’s like bad faith, I know it when I see it though articulating it isn’t easy.
As an aside, I recall an event many years ago now when my oldest son was playing on our corner lot along a much traveled street. His companion was a neighborhood child whose mother once shrieked at me about even contemplating a pop on the rear as discipline. As we talked on the sidewalk, a kickball went into the street just as a car rounded our corner. My son who had been trained to avoid crossing the street at all costs “toed” the line at the sidewalk just stopping his momentum in time. His companion despite the yells of his mother went in front of the car. The driver was a kindly elderly lady who managed to swerve in time and avoid catastrophe. The companion’s father came racing out of the house swooped up the child and took him home. Later, at the community block party he asked me why my kid stopped and his kid didn’t. I told him to ask my son why he “toed” the line. “‘Cause Dad would woop my butt,” came the reply. A tad dramatic but not erroneous.
Well, this is the kind of issue where I don’t see mega studies or any study as being of any use whatsoever. The human race already did a study, called “experience” over generation after generation, and it came to the conclusion, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.”
My father would spank me with his belt and my mother would switch my legs. These were rare, but what kept me from doing more bad things was the sure knowledge that it did not hurt their feelings one bit to punish me if I screwed up. As a result, I moderated my behavior. Plus, even when I misbehaved as a teenager, I was pretty sure that if they caught me, I would still get spanked. Which kept me very cautious about going as far down bad roads as many of my friends.
There might be some kids where positive reinforcement works, but there are a lot who also need a good spanking.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Seems clear to me that spanking in all its forms teaches a child that they way to get people to do what you want is to hurt them. Not exactly a good lesson, is it?
Sounds like a Psychology 101 term paper.
In my small, Oregon coastal community, corporal punishment was common in the schools to the point of leaving bruises and marks on some students. In one case, a 4th grade teacher was quick to snap and use a wooden paddle or her hand to smack someone across the back. This led to a day where, after four weeks of marching around a red line in the gymnasium for PE, the students smuggled dried beans into PE class. Every time she turned her back, she was pelted with beans and obnoxious noises. The ensuing mayhem led to her marching the class back to the classroom and every student sent to the principal en masse. The day she left a bruise on a girl’s back was her day of termination. Another principal, who came in all about corporal punishment, used a wooden paddle on the boys for misbehavior. I truly cannot recall any behavior egregious enough to warrant this. Nor, apparently, did one of the dads who showed up at school after his kid was paddled and beat up the principal and the coach who had assisted with the paddling. So, yeah. It’s not all that effective, is it?
I find the very idea of a teacher using physical punishment on my child to be outrageous and I would never allow it. While I recognize the right of parents to discipline their children, the use of that power by a third party is an entirely different question.
I spanked my two eldest daughters rarely, my two younger children I didn’t spank at all. All four grew up similarly. I regret spanking the two eldest and on occasion they remind me that they were the two who were spanked, while the younger two were spared. My daughter and son in law don’t spank, but do take away privileges as punishment, which seems to be working well. I’m glad society has moved away from corporal punishment for children in general. Spanking should be outlawed in schools. Schools who use it are asking for trouble, IMO.
Great job Kimberly. I spanked my kids originally, but I quickly learned it was detrimental to the kids and me.
The one thing that I respected my Dad for was not just the rarity of spankings but he would use his hand and you would have your pants on. He refused to do what other Dads did in using a belt, paddle or some other object. He had abuse in his background and spankings would only last until you cried — which I would commence upon my approach to satisfy that condition.
This is a fascinating piece Kimberly. We have discussed various cases around the country where spanking as a form of child abuse has been raised. I was in a spanking household growing up in Chicago but it was rare and my father never used anything but his hand. He would only give a few good spanks and then consider the point made. It was only for heinous offenses of one type or another. We have not disavowed spanking with my kids but I have never felt the need. Thankfully electronics give parents the ultimate punishment. My kids would prefer a spanking that “no screens” as a punishment.