The Science and Statistics Behind Spanking Suggests that

More documents

Recommendations

Info

11-FULLER_FINAL_AFTERPROOF.DOC 2/17/2009 8:50 AM 310 AKRON LAW REVIEW [42:243 problems. 366 But when they separated physical abuse from physical discipline, spanking yielded virtually no negative outcomes. 367 By contrast, they found that children who were never spanked tended to have social and behavioral problems, and were not more competent than their peers. 368 This is consistent with the many studies indicating that spanking is just as effective as mental punishments, if not more so. 369 Whereas Dr. Baumrind found that spanking is not inherently harmful, she did find that verbal discipline might be. 370 Children that were punished through scolding, belittling, or general disapproval tended to be less competent and have more behavior problems than children who were spanked. 371 Even when Dr. Baumrind separated verbal abuse from verbal punishment, the results were still detrimental. 372 However, discipline methods that included spanking were associated with positive behavior and did not correlate with behavior 366. See, e.g., Baumrind, Causally Relevant Research, supra note 21, at 7 (“Prior to excluding families in the Red zone where parents can be said to hit violently,” they found a detrimental association). 367. See, e.g., Baumrind, Discipline “Effects,” supra note 354 (discovering that “once these very high risk families were removed and plausible third variables covaried out correlations were close to zero.”). 368. See, e.g., supra note 337 and accompanying text. 369. See, e.g., supra note 17 and accompanying text. 370. See, e.g., Baumrind, Causally Relevant Research, supra note 21, at 9 (“Finally we asked—is physical punishment associated with more detrimental child outcomes than verbal punishment? The answer is clearly no . . . . [T]he negative outcomes associated with normative verbal punishment were at least as pronounced as those of normative physical punishment.”) (footnote omitted). 371. Compare id. at 5 (“A measure of frequency of an alternative disciplinary tactic, verbal punishment, was created using three items: a) Parent yells or shouts, b) Parent belittles the child by the use of sarcasm, and c) Parent engages in nattering (pointless and disapproving chatter).”) (emphasis in original); with id. at 9 (“Total verbal punishment was negatively associated with competence, and positively associated with problem behavior at each age and for most outcomes, typically to a greater degree than the associations between these child outcomes and total physical punishment.”) (footnote omitted). 372. See, e.g., id. at 15 n.6 (“Unlike the effects of removing parents in the Red Zone for physical punishment, doing the same for verbal punishment did not greatly attenuate its detrimental effects.”); Spock, Bratty Child, supra note 25, at 31 (“Sometimes parents who are afraid to be firm fail to recognize their own timidity because they commonly use an irritable tone in directing or correcting their children. But crossness is not a sign of determination—quite the opposite. It signals to the child that the parent is frustrated because he or she has so often failed to get the child to obey in the past and is already anticipating failure in the present episode. The defeatist element in the tone of voice encourages the child to try to win out again, and the gritty element provokes him to fight back. A parent . . . who has confidence he or she will be obeyed has no reason, no need, to use a scolding tone.”).
11-FULLER_FINAL_AFTERPROOF.DOC 2/17/2009 8:50 AM 2009] THE SCIENCE AND STATISTICS BEHIND SPANKING 311 problems in young children. 373 Dr. Baumrind found that the use of spanking never determined which child became dysfunctional or competent. 374 Instead, such differences largely depended on “variations in the complex pattern of childrearing.” 375 B. Sound Research Indicates that Children with the Highest Optimism, Academic Achievement, and Self-Esteem Have Been Spanked Ultimately, Dr. Baumrind’s study suggests that a young child develops best when his parents lovingly but firmly guide his actions— when they confront him, as needed, with discipline and clear 373. See, e.g., Baumrind, Rejoinder, supra note 355, at 135 (“In our studies of preschool children, punitive discipline was not correlated with unsocialized or rebellious behavior . . . maternal Punitiveness was associated in girls with friendly, outgoing, sociable behavior towards peers and adults.”). Compare id. at 136 (“Paternal consistent discipline for boys is associated with likeable, independent, and assertive behavior, and for girls with affiliative, responsible, and stable behavior . . . . Thus the linear association between firm control and gender-normative behavior in preschool boys and girls is clearly positive.”), with supra note 217 and accompanying text. 374. See, e.g., Baumrind, Discipline Controversy, supra note 157, at 40 (“Willingness to spank their preschoolers did not discriminate effective from ineffective parents or competent from dysfunctional children in the [Family Socialization Project]; almost all parents, including the most effective, spanked . . . .”). 375. Baumrind, Causally Relevant Research, supra note 21, at 14; See also, e.g., id. at tbl. 3 (describing the main types of parenting styles (in order from the most beneficial to the most detrimental, Baumrind, Influence, supra note 337) as authoritative, democratic, directive, goodenough, permissive, and rejecting-neglecting). Dr. Baumrind summarized the characteristics of these styles as follows: Parenting Style Demandingness Responsiveness Authoritative High High Democratic Medium High Directive High to high-medium Low to low-medium Good-Enough Medium Medium Permissive Low Medium to High Rejecting-Neglecting Low Low Id. Demandingness in this chart “refers to the claims that parents make on children to become integrated into the family and community by their maturity expectations, supervision, disciplinary efforts, and willingness to confront a disputative child.” Baumrind, Discipline Controversy, supra note 157, at 411. “Demanding parents supervise and monitor their children’s activities by directly confronting rather than subtly manipulating them and, thus, may engage in open conflict with their children at points of disagreement.” Id. Responsiveness “refers to the extent to which parents intentionally foster individuality and self-assertion by being attuned, supportive, and acquiescent to children’s needs and demands.” Id. at 410. See also supra note 24 and accompanying text.
Page 1 and 2:
11-FULLER_FINAL_AFTERPROOF.DOC 2/18
Page 3 and 4:
Page 5 and 6:
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18: 11-FULLER_FINAL_AFTERPROOF.DOC 2/17
Page 67: 11-FULLER_FINAL_AFTERPROOF.DOC 2/17
Page 75: 11-FULLER_FINAL_AFTERPROOF.DOC 2/17
show all

The Science and Statistics Behind Spanking Suggests that

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?