Reference no: EM133488861

Question

From a parental cognitive perspective, many parents use physical punishment because they think it works. Parents observe the child's reaction in the short term-the child is upset and stops the behavior-so, they conclude it is an effective teaching tool. Corporal punishment may lead to immediate compliance, but researchers have found that the changes in behavior may only be short-term.

While child health and development experts point to research that indicates that physical punishment is not effective and puts kids at risk for a number of negative outcomes, research shows that spanking is still practiced in some homes. However, the number of parents using spanking as a discipline strategy is decreasing, according to a national survey on corporal punishment.

Hitting doesn't teach them why what they did was wrong or what they should do next time. It teaches kids how to avoid being hit instead of helping them develop positive motivations for good behavior. That being said, spanking kids and using other forms of physical punishment is a risk, not a guarantee that kids will develop problems.

While Gershoff found "strong associations" between corporal punishment and the children's behaviors and experiences she also cautions that her findings do not imply that all children who experience corporal punishment turn out to be aggressive or delinquent. A variety of situational factors, such as the parent/child relationship, can moderate the effects of corporal punishment. There is a significant difference in 'snatching a child' out of anger verses explaining to a child that if they make the choice again to not follow instructions, the consequence will be a spanking then administering that consequence calmly and with the explanation that they are always loved, it is their choices/behaviors that are not liked.

Furthermore, studying the true effects of corporal punishment requires drawing a boundary line between punishment and abuse. This is a difficult thing to do, especially when relying on parents' self-reports of their discipline tactics and interpretations of normative punishment.