ANDLast year I heard three journalists from Panama on the radio recommending that parents and listeners use physical punishment on their children again. According to these journalists, the rebellion, lack of control and problems of youth are due to the fact that today’s parents are not capable of hitting their children when they deserve it. That wasn’t all. The most popular journalist of the three said that the beatings and flip-flops have not killed anyone and that they do not even give children fever when they deserve it. In another program, one of the journalists told her morning audience that she owes the success of her professional life to the physical punishments her father gave her and that thanks to that discipline she is a woman today. of good. The third journalist was even more daring and suggested that parents not pay attention to psychologists’ recommendations to avoid hitting children because they would later be traumatized, and he also assured that nothing happens to children when they are given a good spanking for misbehaving. evil.
The journalists’ narrative is a sample of the prevailing thinking not only in Panamanian society but throughout the world. This is demonstrated by the latest study published by UNICEF, which reports that physical punishment is the most used form of violent “discipline” in the world and that 80% of children from 2 to 14 years old have received some type of physical punishment. . With such data, it is not surprising that thousands of people make approving comments when someone shares the following image:
Image taken from Facebook.
Corporal punishment has been used for thousands of years and has been taught for generations. Research has been clear and has demonstrated the dangerous effects of spanking, strapping, and physical punishment in all its forms. However, health professionals have not clearly explained what its effects are, in part because our narrative has been based on opinions, beliefs and personal positions, but we have not offered concise evidence based on solid data that informs parents and children. help you make better decisions regarding discipline.
This article is not intended to tell parents how to raise their children. I am completely convinced that parents want the best for their children and sacrifice for them. But it is our responsibility to provide them with the most relevant scientific data regarding the harm caused by physical punishment, its short and long-term effects on health, international commitments to prohibit all types of physical punishment and more effective discipline alternatives.
What is physical punishment and its prevalence
There are hundreds of definitions and interpretations, but to avoid confusion I will use the definition proposed by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in its General Comment No. 8 adopted in 2006:
If you value articles like this, consider supporting us by becoming a Pro subscriber. Subscribers enjoy access to members-only articles, materials, and webinars.
Any punishment in which physical force is used and is intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, no matter how slight. Most cases involve hitting children, with the hand or with an implement – a whip, a stick, a belt, a shoe, a wooden spoon, etc. But actions such as kicking, shaking, throwing, pinching, biting, pulling hair or ears, forcing children to remain in uncomfortable positions, burning, scalding or forced ingestion (for example, washing children’s mouths) may also apply. with soap or forcing them to swallow spices, such as hot pepper).
Most research views physical punishment and physical abuse as two points on a continuum of violent behaviors designed to control children. Meaning that physical punishment would be a moderate form of physical violence and abuse would be a more extreme form. Therefore, we can differentiate them in the following way:
According to Murray Strauss, physical punishment is:
The use of physical force with the intention of causing a child to experience pain, without causing injury, for the purpose of correcting or controlling the child’s behavior.
On the other hand, physical abuse is defined as:
(…) is characterized by inflicting physical injuries as a result of hitting, kicking, biting, burning, shaking or otherwise harming a child. The parent or caregiver may not have intended to hurt the child, but rather the injury may have resulted from excessive discipline or physical punishment.
With these definitions it is clarified that this article will not focus on the repercussions and effects of abuse but exclusively on physical punishment.
The most recent report on violence against children published by UNICEF found that physical punishment is the most used form of violent discipline in the world. Their data was collected between 2005 and 2013 and shows that one in five children between 2 and 14 years old has experienced physical punishment in their home during the last month. It also found that, on average, 17% of children have experienced some type of severe physical punishment such as hitting the head, face and ears, or were hit severely on several occasions during the last month. This last data shows that parents and caregivers who use the aforementioned method are more likely to escalate physical punishment to more severe forms of physical violence with their children.
Short and long term effects on health and family relationships
Over the last 50 years, hundreds of independent investigations have been published demonstrating the ineffectiveness of physical punishment as a correction and teaching method. The harmful effects on the short and long-term physical and mental health of children have also been demonstrated. However, it was not until 2002 when , a researcher and professor of developmental psychology at the University of Texas, published in the journal Psychological Bulletin, the first meta-analysis that synthesized the evidence and theoretical literature on this topic. Their work included research in which more than 36,000 children participated and met the established requirements: having sufficient statistical data, evaluating only physical punishment (not a combination with physical abuse or other methods of discipline, such as verbal) or that were administered by parents from special samples.
Once the controls were carried out and the data analyzed, Gershoff found that physical or corporal punishment was related to:
- Increase in unwanted behaviors (behaviors that parents believe they can eliminate)
- Reduction in moral internalization, increase in aggression on the part of the child
- Increase in criminal behavior and antisocial behavior
- Impact on the child’s mental health
- Increased risk of being physically abused (parents are more likely to increase physical punishment when they don’t get a response, exposing children to abuse)
- Increase in acts of aggression in adulthood
- Increased risk of committing some type of abuse on your own child or partner
Of all these harmful effects, Gershoff only found one “positive” effect and that was that physical punishment was related to children’s immediate obedience after receiving it. However, it is necessary to emphasize that this does not mean that the child learns to behave in a desirable way, but rather that he only follows the immediate orders to avoid the pain inflicted by the adult but then he will return to performing the unwanted behaviors. This type of response can be useful in an extreme case where the child is in danger of death, but it is not an effective strategy when you want the child to internalize the rules that you want to teach and be able to reproduce them himself.
Interview with Elizabeth Gershoff and Dr. Murray Strauss, one of the leading researchers regarding the effects of physical punishment:
You can activate Spanish subtitles in the YouTube player.
Subsequent studies conducted in the United States, Hungary, Hong Kong, and Jamaica consistently found that physical punishment was related to problems with anxiety, depression, alcohol and drug abuse, and general psychological maladjustment.
But this is not all, an investigation carried out in 2013, which included a significant sample (34,226 people) from the United States and was published in the journal Pediatrics, found that children who received forms of physical punishment such as pushing, grabbing or slapping were at greater risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease, arthritis and obesity. This is not the only study that found effects on people’s physical health. Other research published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, conducted in Saudi Arabia, found that children who suffered severe physical punishment and insults were at greater risk of asthma and cancer during their adult lives. It is worth adding that these last two studies evaluated other more severe forms of corporal punishment, but I mention them in this article so that it is also taken into consideration how dangerous physical punishment can be, since parents often increase the severity of the punishment. same by not getting results.
Gershoff continued researching and, in 2016, published in the Journal of Family Psychology with Andrew Grogan-Kaylor of the University of Michigan, a larger meta-analysis: it included 169,927 children from 75 different studies. Scientists were even stricter with their definition of physical punishment, focusing primarily on open-handed hitting (such as spanking). Their findings demonstrated that data from studies on the effects of physical punishment were highly consistent. The effects were:
- Low moral internalization
- Assault
- antisocial behavior
- Externalizing behavioral problems (problem behaviors that are directed toward the external environment. Includes disobedience to rules, deception, theft, and destruction of property)
- Internalizing behavioral problems (negative behaviors that focus inward. Include fear, social withdrawal, and somatic complaints)
- Mental health problems
- Conflictive relationships between parents and children
- Impaired cognitive ability
- Low self-esteem
- Risk of physical abuse from parents
- Maintain a positive attitude about physical punishment as an adult
It was also found that children who received physical punishment during childhood were more likely to develop:
- Antisocial behavior in adulthood
- Mental problems
- Positive attitude towards the use of physical punishment during childhood
The direct relationship between physical punishment and its repercussions on long-term health is still not well understood, but some researchers have pointed out that it could be due to the increase in cortisol (stress hormone), which could cause an imbalance in the level of stress. neurobiological.