Greatest. Coffee. Ad. Ever.
Posted on 02/29/2008 12:48:16 AM PST by guitarist
Spanking Raises Chances of Risky, Deviant Sexual Behavior
Review found physical punishment of kids linked to unprotected, masochistic sex as adults
By Amanda Gardner Posted 2/28/08
THURSDAY, Feb. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have uncovered another damaging consequence of spanking: risky sexual behaviors, or even sexual deviancy, when the child grows up.
"This adds one more harmful side effect to spanking," said Murray Straus, a spanking expert who was expected to present the findings of four studies at the American Psychological Association's Summit on Violence and Abuse in Relationships in Bethesda, Md., on Thursday. Related News
* Video: Health News & Features * Join a Discussion * More from Health
"I think that it's pretty powerful," said Elizabeth Gershoff, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan's School of Social Work. "It's across several studies and across different forms of either risky or deviant sexual behavior."
Straus, who was the author of all four studies, hopes the findings will raise awareness among child development experts.
"My hope is to convince my colleagues that they ought to put this in their textbooks," said Straus, co-director of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire, in Durham. "It's amazing. Something experienced by all American kids gets an average of half a page in child development textbooks, and not a single one comes to the conclusion that parents should never spank."
Even the revered Dr. Spock, who was anti-spanking, never came right out and advised parents outright not to do it, he added. Instead, Spock advised "avoiding it if you can."
A meta-analysis of spanking studies conducted by Gershoff found 93 percent agreement among studies that spanking can lead to such problems as delinquent and anti-social behavior in childhood along with aggression, criminal and anti-social behavior and spousal or child abuse as an adult.
"There's probably nothing else in child development that has 93 percent agreement in results," Straus said.
Five percent of people who have never been spanked hit their partners, versus 25 percent of those who were spanked frequently.
However, some 90 percent of U.S. parents spank toddlers, according to Straus.
The review being presented at the meeting are the first to look at the relationship of spanking to sexual behavior.
They found that spanking and other corporal punishment is associated with an increased probability of verbally and physically coercing a dating partner to have sex; risky sex such as premarital sex without using a condom; and masochistic sex such as spanking during sex.
There is a "dose response" at work here. "The more parents spank, the higher the probability of harmful side effects," Straus noted.
Of course, there's a similar dose response for smokers. But if someone reaches the age of 65 without developing lung cancer, it doesn't mean that smoking isn't harmful. It means the person was one of the lucky ones.
It's the same with spanking, Straus said. "If a person says, 'I was spanked, and I don't have any interest in bondage and discipline sex, that's correct, but it's not because spanking is OK, it's because they're one of the lucky ones."
And spanking a child once may be like picking up that first cigarette. "The trouble is, if you have a 2-year-old, you pretty soon decide you can't avoid it. The recidivism rate for whatever 'crime' you correct a 2-year-old for is about 50 percent in two hours."
"I've been researching corporal punishment for 30 years and, in the course of that time, the evidence has accumulated that it doesn't work any better than non-corporal punishment but has harmful side effects. I have come to the conclusion that parents should never, ever spank because, although it does work, it's no better than non-hitting methods that don't have harmful side effects. If there was an FDA for spanking, they'd say use an alternative that doesn't have harmful side effects."
Greatest. Coffee. Ad. Ever.
I think the more pressing question is whether these folks have even taken (and mastered the contents of) a proper, rigorous probability and statistics course.
We were on a three ticket limit and then he goes into time out. (I never thought it would work. It does) We’ve now gone straight to timeout. If misbehavior continues it’s up to the room - and it may be a while. If boy mouths-off to Mom (big no-no) He goes to the woodshed for a talk. We employ the Andy Griffith method, lol.
Whenever psychically disciplined I would get the urge to beat up my little brothers. Maybe that’s just me.
Ping for later commentary
How much evidence do we need that this article is stupid? Do we just think it is, or do we have proof???
It’s in US News & World Report.
It is stupid.
My dad used to get a dozen different magazines when we were kids. I even got to read US Naval Institute Proceedings magazine. I avidly read Time, US News & World report.
Then they changed. They became EXTREMELY liberal, and you could see over time, the magazine got thinner and thinner.
They Jumped the Shark.
I think Barney Frank's problem is his mother didn't beat him enough.
17 years ago when I had my first child and 11 months later my second came along. My husband and I were on our own, we did not live near any family. While pregnant and just after the birth of my son I thought I would be the enlightned parent and read all the books and magazines. My boys were never going to be spanked and they would not watch violent shows like the Power Rangers Then came toddlerhood. Time out? For my oldest that was a joke. He’d do whatever he wanted and then put himself in time out. While they didn’t watch the Power Rangers, they were alway physical. As time went by, I quit listening and reading about what these “psychologist” and “parenting experts” had to say and just used common sense. Did I spank? I could NEVER beat a child but a few swats on the behind, heck yeah. They are now typical teenagers but by typical I mean that in a good way. They have great peer relationships, are polite and respectful to others, they are not morose and angry like I see some of the kids around. And we as a family have a great relationship, they’ve never rebelled in any “I’ll show you” way.
I hate that I went on and on about this but I think most of these studies are stupid and cast doubts in parents minds. As parents you need to be consistant and make the boundries pretty clear. Most people are not child abusers, these spanking article really don’t apply to them. They are in a class by themselves, with serious mental problems. These articles are aimed towards the good parents. Common sense is the best parenting approach. You know your kids better than anyone.
(I posted this in a related thread the other day.)
My mom used to use the belt when she administered corporal discipline. We were all sure that she would do it if she threatened, since we all thought her sanity hung by a thread anyway (six kids, all a year apart, father at sea for eight months at a time)
My father, when forced to discipline us by our mother (”Go to your room...you father will deal with you when he gets home...”) would use psychological warfare on us.
We could hear him come home...the adult voices talking downstairs, then...the long, slow footfalls up the stairs accompanied by the noisy unbuckling of the belt and the slooshing sound of it being withdrawn from the belt loops.
Then, for added effect, he would double the belt on itself and snap it. He would do this two or three times, it would emit a loud snap, not unlike that of either a belt hitting flesh, or a hangman’s trapdoor slamming open (in my juvenile mind).
He would come in, lecture us in a deep,threatening voice about the transgression, all the while advancing towards with the belt.
He would usually take about four or five swings as you squirmed around, mostly landing glancing blows. Rarely did he make real stinging contact. My mother was much more accurate and painful. She was very quick to anger, but very quick to cool as well.
But we feared my dad the most. It was not The Belt we feared, it was The Ring. He saved the ring for those times when the punishment was on the fly...when the transgression occured under his watch, usually after repeated warnings.
He would advance closely...speaking low and threateningly, sometimes with his hand pulled back as if he was going to backhand you, which he never did.
The discipline would go something like this...
DAD: “What did I tell you about hitting your sister...?” (advances slowly)
ME: “T..to not to...” (backing slowly)
DAD: “Did you hear what I told you, you dumb bunny...?) (Hand is now raised slightly facing you...clearly visible is the back of his hand and...the red stone on his Holy Cross Class Ring that he got when he graduated from his V12 program as a young ensign in the spring of 1945. That was The Ring.)
(Additional note: My dad very, VERY rarely swore at us...we laugh at the “Dumb Bunny” thing and we don’t understand it and it seems hilarious now, but...faced with the ring, it sounded like the Declaration of Doom.)
ME: “Yes...yes...”
DAD: “Yes WHAT?”
ME: “Yes SIR.”
DAD: “When I tell you what to do, you LISTEN to me.”
This was followed by two or three ineffectual and easily dodged cuffs by him that completely missed the mark. Then he would stand off to the side and allow you to pass while he stood still.
It was at this point when danger was highest. There was nothing you could do but walk by and not look back. You knew it was coming. Sometimes he didn’t do it, just to throw you off. But usually he got you with The Ring.
As you walked by and exposed the back of your head, he would whip out his hand in a light backhand motion and ping you on the back of the skull with the stone of that ring...and sometimes it really smarted.
My dad was a gentle man, and I know he loved us dearly. We were all petrified of him, of disappointing him or crossing him was something we all avoided at all costs. He was all bluster...we looked at my mom out of the corners of our eyes when she was on the warpath, but...we knew he would never deliberately hurt us. He just wanted to scare us.
When my dad passed away, I had custody of the ring. When we went down to Arlington National Cemetery to bury him, I wore that ring, just that once. In my grief, it must have slipped off of my finger. I lost it and never found it. I searched my house and belongings for a year, but never found it. I suppose someone down in Arlington will find a Holy Cross class ring with a red stone someday, and they will wonder about the man who wore it.
If I could have one thing, out of all the things that I have that were his, I wish I had not lost his ring.
I’d put money on these “researchers” not being spanked as a child.
Is there anything these people can’t twist into a sexual encounter?
Sometimes a train is just a train.
We used to give our 2 kids a swat on the bottom when they were younger. My children are in their teens now and they are honor students, great musicians, athletes and all around good kids. We have had many people comment on the good manners and behavior of our children. They are not angels and need adjustments now and again. But discipline now, means taking away priviledges (phone, ipod, video game). If you have your child under control by kindergarten, you have won half the battle.
What a load of bullsh*t!
Look at kids today, no discipline, no morals, no sense of responsibility.
And people wonder why this generation have more mental and emotional problems.
I am convinced pyschology is another strain of liberalism run rampant.
I worry about the underlying theory you espouse.
Children need to know there are rules and stucture. I will bet many of the children you work with would have loved to understood where the lines were drawn.
[Mr] T
“Who’s yer mama!?” *Smack* “Who’s yer mama!?” *Smack* “Who’s yer mama!?” *Smack*
I agree with you completely. This article does not prove that spanking causes deviant behavior later in life. It’s just another attempt by the so-called experts to take over the rights of parents.
The problem today is not that too many parents spank their children but that too many don’t. Parents who occasionally spank children when they are young will not have to use any kind of corporal punishment on them when they get older. Threatening a young child, who is being willfully disobedient, with a time-out does not work. And trying to bribe the child with some kind of reward just to distract him or get him to behave just encourages the child to misbehave. Spanking is a time-honored, traditional method of disciplining children that works, which is more than I can say for some of the methods that the experts recommend.
> ...said Murray Straus, a spanking expert
OK, my mind has now boggled. I have to wonder exactly what-the-devil is a “spanking expert”, how one goes about studying and practising that trade (or more to the point “why”?), and precisely what sort of kid would aspire to grow up to be one instead of, say, a fireman or an astronaut or even a rock star?
I dunno, but it all sounds rather dodgy and suspect to me...
Absolutely right—my son is a tougher case and we’ve yelled at him and spanked him on occasion. He’s the oldest by 2.5 years.
My daughter is a gentle child and has never been spanked and we’ve only slightly raised our voices to her a couple of times. She’s easy and very well behaved without being meek or mousy. She’s not “perfect” but responds well to talking and explaining why we want a certain behavior or procedure.
It’s all about what works for that particular child.
Of course, she’ll probably give us more trouble as a teen!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.