Negative Effects of Corporal Punishment

Injuries

• A fine line exists between physical discipline and child abuse. With excessive physical discipline, bruises, lacerations and broken bones can ensue. Shaking a child may result in brain trauma and even death. Often, spankings occur in anger, leading to increased force unintentionally applied during spankings. Discipline in some families includes cruel, unconventional methods such as burning, hair pulling and biting. Adam J. Zoloter, an assistant professor with the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine, determined during phone surveys that mothers who engaged in spanking often used more severe means of discipline that bordered on physical abuse.

Lower Academic Achievement

• Donald E. Greydanus, a professor of pediatrics and human development at Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine, testified, during a session of Congress' Education and the Workforce Committee, on the effects of school corporal discipline and student achievement. In the 30 states that allow corporal punishment, two to three million students annually experience physical disciplining at the hands of school officials and teaching staff. Dr. Greydanus found that these students displayed more incidences of Educationally Induced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which caused difficulty in concentration, academic underperformance and avoidance of school.

Increased Misbehavior

• Anne B. Smith, a researcher with the Children's Issues Centre at the University of Otago in Dunedin, analyzed a set of studies and found that children physically disciplined were more likely to exhibit greater instances of physically abusing loved ones, engaging in aggression against other adults and committing crimes. A survey of groups of people that included the prison population, juvenile offenders and high school dropouts revealed that significant percentages of these populations suffered severe to extreme applications of physical discipline as children.

Psychological

• Researchers Emily M. Douglas of Bridgewater State College and Murray A. Straus of the University of New Hampshire scrutinized psychology textbooks for studies linking psychological malfunctioning and corporal discipline. They found that the more aggressive the discipline, the higher the rate of mood disorders and disruptive behaviors; both men and women spanked during their childhoods reported more incidences of depression and thoughts of suicide as adults. Men had a greater tendency to react violently toward their dates or mates. Chinese children who experienced physical punishment exhibited more risky behaviors such as fighting, smoking and drinking.

Detrimental Effects on Girls

• Although boys generally receive more spankings, girls seem to passively accept victimization as a part of life. When subject to spanking by male figures such as fathers, girls often display submissive behavior to men later in life. This leads to the acceptance of violence performed against them, including battery and rape. School discipline sometimes borders on the sexual when male teachers stroke the buttocks with the paddle before spanking. Girls become mentally affected because they incorporate the spanking process into their mindsets, but boys find a destructive outlet for their frustrations.