They Say: Spanking is the Gateway to Abuse

Madeline Holler — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:01:00 GMT

After unleashing a little whoop-ass on rampant corporal punishment in U.S. schools in an earlier post, I came across a report on a soon-to-be-released study about spanking within the home. Looks like moms who say they or their partners spank also tend to use other, harsher forms of physically abusive punishment on their children. Harsher forms include beating, burning, kicking, hitting with an object somewhere other than the buttocks, or shaking a child less than 2 years old.

Which is not to say every spanker goes this far. A good thing, too. Because while some surveys show a slight decline in the use of spanking as a form of discipline in the last 30 years, guess how many Americans report spanking their 3- to 5-year-old children at least once in a while:

90 percent! So now you know you're not the only one.

But lets look at these harsher punishments and the connection between them and spanking. Around 1,400 mothers in North and South Carolina were surveyed on the phone. Here's what they found (from UPI):

The study, published in the September American Journal of Preventive Medicine, said 45 percent of the mothers reported they or their partners had spanked their children in the previous 12 months, 25 percent reported spanking with an object on the buttocks and 4 percent reported using harsher forms of punishment.

"This study demonstrated that parents who report spanking children with an object and parents who frequently spank children are much more likely to report other harsh punishment acts consistent with physical abuse," Zolotor said in a statement.

Here's the upshot: nearly every parent has resorted to a thwack on the bottom at some point in their parenting history. Of those who didn't then want to collapse in a corner, rocking themselves through the waves of guilt and regret -- in other words, the ones who use the paddle/hand as a go-to discipline of choice, no prob -- they were more likely (though not guaranteed) to also have used a harsher forms of physical punishment (the burning, etc.).

So let's hear it: do you spank? Have you spanked? What do you think of this survey (just North and South Carolina? There's evidence that spanking is more accepted in the South ...). What about other people (teachers) spanking your kids?

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Photo: medicineworld.org

Strollerderby : burning children

They Say: Spanking is the Gateway to Abuse

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Is it ever OK to hit your kids?

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