Posted on 09/24/2009 7:16:10 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Spanking can get kids to behave in a hurry, but new research suggests it can do more harm than good to their noggins. The study, involving hundreds of U.S. children, showed the more a child was spanked the lower his or her IQ compared with others.
"All parents want smart children," said study researcher Murray Straus of the University of New Hampshire. "This research shows that avoiding spanking and correcting misbehavior in other ways can help that happen."
One might ask, however, whether children who are spanked tend to come from backgrounds in which education opportunities are less or inherited intelligence lower.
But while the results only show an association between spanking and intelligence, Straus says his methodology and the fact that he took into account other factors that could be at play (such as parents' socioeconomic status) make a good case for a causal link.
"You can't say it proves it, but I think it rules out so many other alternatives; I am convinced that spanking does cause a slowdown in a child's development of mental abilities," Straus told LiveScience.
Intelligence quotients
Straus and his colleague Mallie Paschall of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Maryland studied nationally representative samples of two age groups: 806 children ages 2 to 4, and 704 ages 5 to 9. The researchers tested the kids' IQs initially and then four years later.
Both groups of kids got smarter after four years. But the 2- to 4-year-olds who were spanked scored 5 points lower on the IQ test than those not spanked. For children ages 5 to 9, the spanked ones scored on average 2.8 points lower than their unspanked counterparts.
The results, he said, were statistically significant. .. ..
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
That’s just cause their parents are dumb.
showed the more a child was spanked the lower his or her IQ compared with others.
Then why do I have a high IQ?
leftist propaganda.
I coulda been a contendah!
Maybe kids who got spanked less were quick learners.
I got spanked but usually not for the same thing.
That's probably why they get spanked you silly duck! It's harder to get their attention.
I guess you got whacked with a smarter stick.
Crap.
And I speak from experience: kids who got their fannies paddled when appropriate and who top out on those IQ charts.
Loving discipline instills critical thinking, wise decision-making, and good character.
While my father occasionally refused to spare the rod, I did notice as a child that the folks who used to FREQUENTLY beat their kids in public weren’t exactly the classiest folks and were usually from the shallower end of the gene pool.
An unspanked child may explore more while the parents who spank often do so because the curious child is getting on their nerves.
Perhaps their low IQ is why they get spanked so much.
My theory is that a stupid kid engages in more behavior that will get him spanked. (Am against spanking and using this to illustrate mistaking correlation for causation.)
What a crock. If that was actually the case I’d have never made it out of grade school... Oh, wait... DOH!
Yep! Complete crock of BS. Hell my momma broke so much stuff off my behind (well deservedly) she was single handedly supporting the cookware and wood industries.
Maybe some of them are suffering brain damage?
This is bull. I seldom, if ever, got spanked and I’m dumber than a box of rocks.
Then why do I have a high IQ?
Same here. This study is pure manure.
I think we have winner riiiight here.
Dang! And to think I coulda been a genius!
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.