I don't have kids but work with kids with mental, emotional and drug issues. While I don't believe health workers like myself should have the right to discipline kids--we don't, thankfully--I do believe parents have that right.
At the same time, I think it's foolish to deny that in some cases, parents go too far. There's just too much history.
In the case of this study, I don't think it's ridiculous to believe that SOME children are affected by even lesser amounts of physical discipline, and am bemused by those who apparently think all kids react the same way to the same discipline. That makes no sense. I've gone through things in my youth that I rarely even think about; kids I see have gone through far less and are deeply disturbed by it. Many kids have gone through far MORE than I did--by leaps and bounds--and have come out perfectly OK.
The troubling truth is that kids aren't robots. That's why parenting is such a hard job, and why we don't have hard and fast rules for bringing up kids.
He’s way more sensitive than my son, and the parenting background difference is night and day: never left mommy’s arms, sleeping in parent’s bed, fed by hand, not potty trained, etc.
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.
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.