Spanking Linked to Mental Illness, Says Study

[CreekDog]

Researchers examined data from more than 34,000 adults and found that being spanked significantly increased the risk of developing mental health issues as adults. According to their results, corporal punishment is associated with mood disorders, including depression and anxiety, as well as personality disorders and alcohol and drug abuse. They estimate that as much as 7 percent of adult mental illness may be attributable to childhood physical punishment, including slapping, shoving, grabbing, and hitting. The study reports that spanking ups the risk of major depression by 41 percent, alcohol and drug abuse by 59 percent, and mania by 93 percent, among other findings.

...

"We're not talking about just a tap on the bum," study author Tracie Afifi, PhD, of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, explained in a statement. "We were looking at people who used physical punishment as a regular means to discipline their children." However, the analysis excluded individuals who reported more severe maltreatment such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect, emotional neglect, or exposure to intimate partner violence.

"It definitely points to the direction that physical punishment should not be used on children of any age," said Afifi. Researchers concluded, "It is important for pediatricians and other healthcare providers who work with children and parents to be aware of the link between physical punishment and mental disorders."

The physical punishment of children is legal in the United States, although it is banned in at least 24 other countries. It's worth noting that 19 states also allow corporal punishment in schools. Earlier studies have linked spanking toddlers to increased aggression in older children.

http://shine.yahoo.com/team-mom/spanking-linked-mental-illness-says-study-175900352.html

But if you really want to spank thinking it will solve problems, just close your eyes and cover your ears and yell, "I can't hear you, I can't hear you..."

[obamanut2012]

1. Very interesting -- and it makes sense

Abuse can cause lot of emotional and mental trauma in an adult's life, so why not a child's?

[CreekDog]

2. The connection between physical punishment those that got spanked then harming other kids...

is interesting.

[eridani]

3. What? No popcorn smilie? n/t

[raccoon]

4. Spanking is about the parent's anger much more often than it's about anything

the kid did. IME and IMO.

[kdmorris]

5. I have mixed feelings about this study

In the first paragraph it says:

They estimate that as much as 7 percent of adult mental illness may be attributable to childhood physical punishment, including slapping, shoving, grabbing, and hitting.

I'm not sure how slapping, shoving, grabbing and hitting became spanking.

I did not spank my children because I didn't want them to fear me and tried to reason with them rather than spanking. But - I was spanked as a child. My father never spanked us when he was angry and then we would get one swat per year of our life. I didn't like it and I did fear my father, but he never slapped, shoved, grabbed or hit me. I just don't think that spanking is really in the same category as those types of physical punishment.

[uponit7771]

8. Yeap, most who don't like spanking turn it into beating a child in context either on purpose

...or cause they've been taught wrong

[4th law of robotics]

9. Yeah, equating all those things with spanking is inherently dishonest

What they've found is that up to 7% of mental illness in adults can be attributed to having mentally ill and abusive parents.


Not that surprising actually.

[meaculpa2011]

6. My Dad would take off his belt...

throw a cold glance at me and then say, in a very stern voice: "Don't ever do that again."

Then he'd put his belt on and we'd go play catch.

My Mom, on the other hand...

We were always on our best behavior when she was cooking. She could swing that wooden spoon with more power than Barry Bonds.

They're 90 and 82 now and we're very lucky to have them both with us and in reasonably good health.

I gave my daughter a light spanking once. She was four years old and tried to take the car out of the driveway. She actually got it started, but couldn't reach the clutch. She went to my Mom with big smile on her face and said: "Daddy spanked me this morning."

Mom looked at me and said, "Your hands should off!" without the slightest tinge of irony.

Doing anything anger is a bad idea. Hitting a child when you're out of control... Your hands SHOULD fall off!

[uponit7771]

7. So a good portion of people spanked and are highly functional have mental illness's?

Come on, this study leaves out the obvious empirical data

[18andsafenow]

10. The "correct way" to "spank" a minor

In light of the Judge Adams video,

We often hear from those who fight to uphold this practice for those under the age of 18 (even to the blaming of the social maladies of the day on a supposed "lack" of it), but we rarely, if ever, find advocates for the return of corporal punishment to the general adult community, inmate population, military, or college campuses. Why is that?

Ask ten unyielding proponents of child/adolescent/teenage-only "spanking" about the "right" way to do it, and what would be abusive, indecent, or obscene, and you will get ten different answers.

These proponents should consider making their own video-recording of the "right way" to do it.

[18andsafenow]

11. Children should have a right to their bodies

Children should have a right to their bodies, and the right to say "No!"

Currently in the U.S.:

When an adult does it to another adult, its sexual battery:
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/12/va-beach-restaurateur-pleads-guilty-sexual-battery

When children do it to adults, its a "deviant sexual prank":
http://www.theday.com/article/20101207/NWS04/101209750

When an adult does it to a person under the age of 18, its "good discipline".

Research/recommended reading:

Spanking Can Make Children More Aggressive Later
http://tulane.edu/news/releases/pr_03122010.cfm

Spanking Kids Increases Risk of Sexual Problems
http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2008/feb/lw28spanking.cfm

Use of Spanking for 3-Year-Old Children and Associated Intimate Partner Aggression or Violence
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/126/3/415

Spanking Children Can Lower IQ
http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2009/sept/lw25straus.cfm

Plain Talk About Spanking
by Jordan Riak
http://www.nospank.net/pt2010.pdf

The Sexual Dangers of Spanking Children
by Tom Johnson
http://nospank.net/sdsc2.pdf

"Spanking" can be intentional or unintentional sexual abuse
http://www.nospank.net/101.htm