If there was a genetic disposition to bad behavior, wouldn’t you expect that to manifest at a young age, and that those children would be spanked more because they did more bad things?
If 90% of americans spank, doesn’t that mean a study in the United States wouldn’t be that helpful?
How do they verify the information? Do they just ask the criminals whether they were spanked, and the nice people if they were spanked? Maybe the nice people don’t remember being spanked, and the criminals are looking for somthing to blame for their evil ways?
I do think that a lot of parents spank “wrong”, and send the message that physical response is appropriate when a person isn’t doing what you want them to do. That message, reinforced over the years, would tend to lead to adults who would use physical force to make people do what they want.
But that doesn’t mean spanking itself was bad, just that there were bad parents.
They've reversed cause and effect. Misbehaving children are spanked. Obedient children are not. Blaming spanking for deviant behavior is similar to social scientists blaming prisons for criminality. Spanking doesn't create deviants - misbehaving children are spanked to persuade them to give up their unhealthy habits.