Spare the rod – kids spanked more likely to be aggressive

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDApr 13 2010

The study

As the saying goes, “spare the rod and spoil the child”. Many organizations including American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association have found that this is a wrong statement and spanking a child may do more harm than good.

A recent study published this month in the reputed journal Pediatrics has brought out further damage that spanking can do. It says that children who have been spanked often were twice as likely as those who weren't spanked to develop aggressive and bullying behaviors. There have been similar studies earlier but many believed that these aggressive children may have had the propensity to violent behavior even before they were spanked.

This study shows the link between spanking a behavior after considering all the underlying factors. Catherine A. Taylor, of Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, who led the research, says, "That is really a key point that sets the study apart….Causality is extremely difficult to prove… the evidence is at a point where we want to encourage parents to use techniques other than spanking that can actually lower children's risk for being more aggressive.”

She studied families from across 20 cities in the US and researchers interviewed mothers when their children were three years old and again when they were five. Nearly half of the children were classified as those with "higher aggression," and rest with "lower aggression." More than half of these 2500 children had been in the month prior to the interview. 46% mothers said they had not spanked their kid in the last month, 28% said they spanked one to two times, and 26 percent reported spanking more than twice.

Those who were spanked more than twice at age three had twice as high odds of being highly aggressive at age five. Other factors like maternal substance abuse, maltreatment, maternal depression etc. were taken into account.

Despite all such warnings and advises, nearly 90% parents resort to spanking at some time or other. Study author Taylor says parents need to consult their pediatricians regarding punishment if they are spanking their children. She said, “Children need guidance and discipline… However, parents should focus on positive, non-physical forms of discipline and avoid the use of spanking.”

Expert Speak

Psychologist Sandra A. Graham-Bermann, as an independent observer says, “The evidence is clear that spanking does lead to aggression.” She defined spanking as open-handed hitting that does not injure the child and said that it works in the short term by making the child obey but may harm in the long run. Many psychologists like her say time-outs and other types of non-physical punishments can be more effective. Talking to the child after the initial anger has blown off can also help says Graham-Bermann.

Edward Christophersen, clinical pediatric psychologist at Children's Mercy Hospital and Clinics in Kansas City, says, “Children imitate behavior that their parents model for them. If both parents use spanking as a means of controlling their children, then their children are much more likely to use physical force with playmates and siblings.”

Rahil Briggs, a child psychologist and assistant professor of pediatrics at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine also repeats the same saying that kids "spend much of their early years looking to their caregivers for signals." "If you want to teach your child to say, 'Thank you,' then say it, in front of your child, whenever appropriate. Conversely, if you want to teach your child to hit, then hit your child as a regular form of discipline," she says.

Alan Kazdin, a professor of psychology and child psychiatry at Yale University's Child Study Center says violent means of controlling the child is not only associated with aggressive behavior but also poor academic achievement, poor parent-child relations, and increased likelihood of mental health problems.