The Science and Statistics Behind Spanking Suggests that

11-FULLER_FINAL_AFTERPROOF.DOC 2/17/2009 8:50 AM
302 AKRON LAW REVIEW [42:243
The two studies came to opposing conclusions. 318 Dr. Straus
claimed his survey showed that frequent spankings increase antisocial
behavior, like aggression. 319 Dr. Gunnoe’s study indicated that many
young children who are spanked get into fewer fights at school. 320 She
concluded, “For most children, claims that spanking teaches aggression
seem unfounded.” 321
Again, these two articles appeared in the same issue of the same
publication. 322 Three major news networks and over 100 periodicals
reported Dr. Straus’ study under headlines like “Spanking Makes
Children Violent, Antisocial.” 323 But none of the major networks, and
only fifteen periodicals, mentioned Dr. Gunnoe’s findings. 324
Similarly, almost none of the news outlets mentioned the flaws in
Dr. Straus’ study. Nobody mentioned that the detrimental effects he
found were statistically insignificant—accounting for only 1.3 percent of
later change in antisocial behavior. 325 To the contrary, the Associated
Press interpreted this 1.3 percent as proof that spanking causes a
“boomerang” of misbehavior. 326 But as Dr. Larzelere later noted, “If
spanking is as detrimental as it is being made out to be, it should be easy
to get a statistically significant [change in behavior].” 327
318. Compare, e.g., Gunnoe, supra note 299 and accompanying text, with supra note 223 and
accompanying text.
319. See, e.g., supra note 223 and accompanying text.
320. See, e.g., Rosellini, supra note 27 (“Gunnoe found that children ages 4 to 7 who had been
spanked got in fewer, not more, fights at school. (The reverse was true with white boys ages 8 to 11
in single-mother families, who Gunnoe suggested might be less accepting of parental authority).”).
321. Gunnoe, supra note 299.
322. See, e.g., supra note 313 and accompanying text.
323. See, e.g., Rosellini, supra note 27 (“American Medical Association, which publishes
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, issued a news release headlined ‘Spanking Makes
Children Violent, Antisocial,’ and Straus’ findings were reported by the three major networks and
included in at least 107 newspaper and magazine stories . . . . Remarkably, the same issue of
Archives carried another, longer-term study by psychologist Marjorie Lindner Gunnoe that came to
quite different conclusions . . . . Yet there was no AMA press release on the Gunnoe study.”).
324. See, e.g., id. (“Yet there was no AMA press release on the Gunnoe study, and none of the
network reports and only 15 of the 107 newspaper and magazine stories on Straus’s research
mentioned Gunnoe’s contrary findings.”).
325. See, e.g., LARZELERE, CRITIQUE, supra note 223 and accompanying text.
326. See, e.g., Rosellini, supra note 27 (“Typically, news accounts reported simply that
Straus’s study determined that ‘spanking children causes [a] “boomerang” of misbehavior,’ as the
Associated Press put it.”).
327. LARZELERE, CRITIQUE, supra note 223 (“If spanking is as detrimental as it is being made
out to be, it should be easy to get a statistically significant difference between those spanked at the
rate of 104 times annually vs. those spanked from 0 to 25 times annually. Given a total variance
accounted for of 1.3%, I don’t think Straus et al. can obtain that even with their overall sample size
of over 800.”).