How to Decide on This Whole Spanking Thing

Anti-Spanking
Anti-Spanking Arguments

• Spanking is morally and ethically wrong. Even if data says spanking helps discipline kids, it's just not ok to hit people. We wouldn't allow bosses to start spanking their employees even if data showed that it improved employees' performance.
• Spanking teaches that violence is acceptable.
• Spanking is an ineffective method of discipline.
• Spanking causes behavioral problems in children.
• Spanking teaches that good reasoning is less important than physical power.
• Spanking has been discouraged by many respected organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Canadian Pediatric Society, and the American Psychological Association.
• Spanking has been outlawed in many developed countries, including Japan, New Zealand, and over a dozen countries in Europe.

Anti-Spanking Data

• A history of being spanked has been linked with higher incidents of mental health problems.
• A history of being spanked has been linked with higher incidents of drug and alcohol abuse.
• A history of being spanked has been linked with higher incidents of violence.
• A history of being spanked has been linked with higher incidents of spousal abuse.
• Studies show that there are non-violent disciplinary methods that are as effective as spanking to immediately stop an undesirable behavior.
• Studies show that there are non-violent disciplinary methods that are more effective at reducing certain behavioral problems over time.

Anti-Spanking Summary: Most experts agree that the data on spanking is not conclusive. Even so, people who oppose spanking argue that, like the relationship between tobacco and cancer, even without an iron-clad study the data shows clear trends overall. Given the significant chance that spanking could cause problems, the ethical questions surrounding spanking, and the equally effective non-violent methods, it seems that spanking has no upside and a likely downside.

Pro-Spanking
Pro-Spanking Arguments

• Spanking makes kids behave better. There is less spanking today, and that is in part responsible for increased modern problems like violence and crime.
• Spanking has a long tradition as an effective form of discipline. Spanking is used by most Americans today, and it has been practiced throughout history.
• Spanking associates a behavior with pain, which leaves a more visceral and lasting impression. An immediate slap on the rear if a kid runs into the street will cement into the child's head that running into the street is really unpleasant. A time out and a talk about why streets are dangerous would not have as profound an effect.
• Spanking becomes the looming threat that makes words and reasoning more effective.
• Spanking instills a sense of authority. You have to listen to your parents not because they have good reasoning but because they are your parents.

Pro-Spanking Data

• The anti-spanking data is inconclusive because its findings fail to account for socioeconomic status. That is, certain populations might spank more and also have higher rates of alcoholism and violence. That doesn't mean that spanking caused the violence or alcohol-it only means that violence, alcohol, and spanking exist in the same community.
• The anti-spanking data is inconclusive because it does not account for the amount and method of spanking. A slap on the butt one time when your kid runs into a street is different from spanking your kid as the primary method of discipline. Most of the studies put both kids in the same category, and then draw conclusions based on the category as a whole. Some minimal spanking level, however, could be effective and cause no problems, but these studies would not pick that up.
• The anti-spanking data is inconclusive because parents may resort to spanking with kids who have serious behavioral problems once words, reasoning, and time outs have failed. Those kids will likely have more violence, anti-social behavior, and mental health problems later in life because of their behavior problems, not because they were spanked.
• Studies that control for some of these factors show that children who are spanked are not more violent than children who are not spanked.
• Since Sweden banned spanking in 1979, teenage violence has gone up by 600%.
• A review of studies by Robert E. Larzelere, a major researcher on discipline, concludes that spanking can be an effective technique in very specific circumstances. He found that for spanking to be effective it must be "2 open-handed swats to the buttocks, leaving no bruise," used only 1) by loving parents; 2) infrequently; 3) as a minor supplement to the primary techniques of reasoning and time outs; and 4) only on kids aged 2-6.

Pro-Spanking Summary: Most spanking defenders argue that the data against spanking is not at all compelling, so there is simply no reason to give up an effective form of discipline that has a long, successful history. Spanking is extremely useful if done carefully, infrequently, and as a minor part of a parent's overall disciplinary approach.

Conclusions
Both sides agree that spanking can cause harm to children and should not be used if it is frequent, physically harmful, performed in anger or frustration, or used on children under the age of 2 or 3. The camps are only divided on the limited question of whether current data or ethics support infrequent spanking as an acceptable disciplinary method in limited circumstances. Because the data is not clear and the experts and public disagree, there is no easy answer. It's a decision that parents must make for themselves after considering the facts, the arguments, their culture, and their own beliefs and values. No expert or article can make this important decision for you.

Other Links
John Rosemond, often considered the great spanking advocate