Spanking Children Research Paper

Words: 854
Pages: 4

Spanking Children (Helping or Hurting) Around the world, 52 countries have now outlawed it. It is declining in the United States, and some are beginning to wonder if it should be banned everywhere. Spanking children has been a seemingly harmless form of punishment for hundreds of years, but, psychologists are beginning to wonder if it is harming more than helping the situation. Studies are showing that spanking a child can lead to aggression and other behavior problems in the child’s future. Although physical punishment may be the last resort, and can work wonders for a disobedient child, the probability of it leading to a violent future are too high. Many studies have shown that spanking a child as a form of punishment can lead to aggression, …show more content…
Not only has that percentage dropped, but France has become the 52nd country to ban spanking in the homes (Beck 1). Most parents that spank their children are hoping that it will correct the unacceptable behavior, helping to create a more obediant child, while spanking their child the parents rarely think of the long term effect of it. Another study that Gershoff had worked on proved that putting a child in a time-out has the same if not better short-term effect than spanking would have (Narvaez 1). In reality, spanking a child will only have a short term effect on their behavior. Thinking about what they did wrong lasts about as long as the pain …show more content…
Spanking is used when a child is disobedient or defiant of authority, not if the child is just being irresponsible or “childish”. Discipline is motivated by love for the child, focuses on the future, and results in obedience and feelings of security (Pingleton). Even though it can have a positive short-term effect, the long-term issues outweigh the benefits. A well behaved child lasting for a week or so, is not worth having an aggressive child the rest of their life. A child needs to be able to hear what they did wrong rather than just being punished for it. They need to be shown the right thing rather than just being punished for what they did wrong. France has now followed suit of 51 other states in banning the use of spanking in their homes. It has been proven that the long-term effects on spanking a child is not worth the short term obedience. The chance of a child becoming aggressive because of being spanked at as a child is much higher than if a child had never been punished with spanking. Aggressive behavior has been linked to being spanked as a child more often than a well behaved child has been. Maybe the United States should follow in France’s footsteps and ban spanking as a form of punishment in