@Mikewlf337
“A spoiled child who isnt punished for violent tendencies will stay violent and will get worse.”
So you “punish” a violent child with more physical violence? And how well can you document that that works? (I am not asking for your opinion or anecdotes, but actual researched documentation.)
Here, in reality, is what the biggest meta-study of spanking found
(CP in the quote=“corporal punishment”)
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* Immediate Compliance – She found that CP is associated with increased immediate compliance.
* Moral Internalization – She found that CP decreases internalization of moral rules. This is concerning in that parents are more likely to use corporal punishment when they believe the child is at fault for some misbehavior. Thus, using a method that decreases moral internalization to respond to a failure to adhere to internal rules the child should have known is likely to perpetuate the problem.
* Aggression – She found that CP is associated with increased aggression. This is especially troublesome, she notes, in that parents are more likely to use aggression to stop aggression. However, one study showed that use of corporal punishment to halt aggression increased risk for aggressive behaviors by 50%, regardless of whether the parent or the teacher rated the child’s behavior. Use of aggression after being physically punished for aggressive behavior is likely to be seen as an escalation of misbehavior, which was also associated with greater use of corporal punishment. Thus, corporal punishment is likely to perpetuate the problem.
* Antisocial Behaviors – She found that CP is associated with increased antisocial behaviors. This was found most strongly for boys, and for children between the ages of 10 and 12. This is also troublesome as boys were more likely to be spanked, and if spanking increases antisocial behaviors, spanking to stop them is likely to perpetuate the problem. Gershoff in fact did find that CP is associated with increased risk of adult criminal behavior.
* Quality of Parent-Child Relationship – She found that CP is associated with decreased quality of the parent-child relationship. This is more troublesome because most spankings happen between 5:00PM and bedtime, which comprises the majority of parent-child time together for most children. Spankings were also more likely to happen if the child’s misbehavior placed them at some risk for harm, and protecting the child is part of the parent-child relationship. This is also more troublesome, as spanking can lead children to think that aggression is common in relationships with loved ones. Gershoff in fact did find that CP is associated with increased risk of victimization from abusive relationships in adulthood.
* Mental Health – She found that CP is associated with decreased mental health outcomes. This is concerning, as children ages 5 to 8 are most at risk for severe corporal punishment, ages at which significant emotional, social, and cognitive development happens.
* Adult Abusive Behavior – She found that CP is associated with increased adult abusive behavior. She reports studies have shown that ⅔s of abusive parent-child incidents begin as an effort to discipline the child and “teach them a lesson.” If this means that adult antisocial behavior is more likely after being spanked as a child, given that other research shows antisocial parents are at greater risk to abuse children, then this could mean that spanking one’s child may increase the risk of abuse for one’s grandchildren.
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