Spanking may worsen behaviour problems in kids: study
Team Udayavani, Nov 20, 2017, 4:50 PM IST
New York: Parents, take note! Spanking your children may be harmful and could worsen their behaviour, scientists say.
“Our findings suggest that spanking is not an effective technique and actually makes children’s behaviour worse not better,” said lead author of the study Elizabeth T Gershoff, from the University of Texas in the US.
The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, indicates that the increase in behaviour problems cannot be attributed to various characteristics of the child, the parents, or the home environment – rather, it seems to be the specific result of spanking.
“Parents spank for many reasons, such as their educational or cultural background or how difficult their children’s behaviour is,” Gershoff said. “The same reasons, which we call selection factors, can also predict children’s behaviour problems, making it difficult to determine whether spanking is in fact the cause of behaviour problems,” she said.
“We realised that the statistical method of propensity score matching could help us get as close to an experiment as possible,” she said. Researchers examined data from 12,112 children. When the children were five years old, their parents reported how many times they had spanked their child in the past week.
They then matched children who had been spanked with those who had not. The results showed that children who had been spanked at age five showed greater increases in behaviour problems by age six and also by age eight when compared with children who had never been spanked.
“The fact that knowing whether a child had ever been spanked was enough to predict their levels of behaviour problems years later was a bit surprising,” said Gershoff. “It suggests that spanking at any frequency is potentially harmful to children,” she added.
Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.
Top News
Related Articles More
Study links overthinking to ‘constant communication’ between brain’s fear-centre, social behaviour
Mangaluru: Campco opposes WHO’s claim of arecanut being carcinogenic
10 month baby gets new heart, new life
World COPD Day: Know your lung function
As Delhi chokes with dangerous pollution levels, doctors warn of health risks for all
MUST WATCH
Latest Additions
Need to link co-op movement with circular economy: PM Modi
Karnataka CM directs officials to submit proposal for gold chariot for Goddess Chamundeshwari
RSS mouthpiece Organiser had attacked Constitution: Jairam Ramesh
Cheetah Neerva gives birth to cubs in MP’s Kuno National Park
Sensex reclaims 80k mark; Nifty surges over 1% after BJP-led Mahayuti’s win in Maharashtra
Thanks for visiting Udayavani
You seem to have an Ad Blocker on.
To continue reading, please turn it off or whitelist Udayavani.