Spanking

by Mike James

Proverbs 13:24 states: “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” The point of the scripture is that there are times when corporal punishment can be utilized by parents in disciplining their children. But other scriptures should make it obvious we are not talking about abusing a child or physically hurting a child (Ephesians 6:4; Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 13). The Bible also talks about instructing and reproving more than using a rod (2 Timothy 1:7; Proverbs 13:1). So if we must use corporal punishment it should be a last resort. I say all this at the outset due to the world’s view of corporal punishment.

In 2019, France and Kosovo made physical punishment of children illegal in all circumstances, including in the home. This brought to 56 the number of countries in the world now outlawing corporal punishment of children. Many other countries are also moving in this direction according to Joan Durrant, professor of community health science at the University of Manitoba. Durrant goes on to say, “There have been at least 100 studies that show (corporal punishment) has no positive impact on children—only negative ones such as increased aggression, more mental health problems, and damaged family relationships.” But is this true? Speaking from my own experience I believe the few times my parents employed physical punishment on me, it served its purpose. I didn’t want to be spanked again and I remembered why I was spanked. My parents never abused me or hurt me the few times they did spank me. My second-grade teacher had a paddle hanging on her wall. She never had to use it, but it served a purpose by just being out in front of the class for everyone to see.

But it seems that a lot of media today is promoting the negative impact of spanking just like all the other negative things the media spews about what God’s Word has to say on things. Another so-called expert on the subject, Garrett Pace, of the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work, says, “Our findings suggest that spanking seems to be harmful on a global scale.” But like all data the devil is in the details. Let’s take a look at the other side of the coin on this subject. 

I want to cite some data from an article I found on the website of the American College of Pediatricians. The article is titled, “Research on Disciplinary Spanking is Misleading.” According to the article most research against spanking uses flawed methodology. Some of these flaws can be found in research conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Gershoff and her colleague, Dr. Andrew Grogan-Kaylor. First of all we need to define disciplinary spanking. It is defined as, “physically non-injurious, intended to modify behavior, and administered with the open hand to the extremities or buttocks.” It should occur with children ages 2 to 6 years of age, and when milder disciplinary measures have failed to correct the misbehavior. Interestingly, only four of the 75 studies in the latest Gershoff research found that spanking was used appropriately, and those four studies found spanking to be at least as effective or more effective when compared to three other alternatives. Most of the evidence against spanking, that many in the media cite, comes from the other 71 studies, where proper disciplinary spanking was not followed.

Another problem with this research is what is called the correlational fallacy. Most of the evidence is based on “cross-sectional” correlations or correlations between disciplinary spanking and child behaviors during one overlapping time period without taking into account the previous state of the children. This kind of correlation technique superficially makes spanking appear to cause aggression since the kids spanked more often are the kids who were more aggressive during the same time period. But we don’t know which came first, the spanking or the aggressive behavior? Did the aggressive behavior come first leading to more spanking by the parents, or did the spanking occur before the aggression? You can’t figure that out from cross-sectional correlations.

Another problem is the extrapolation fallacy. Here Grogan-Kaylor and Gershoff extrapolate too much from their data. Their data was a comparison between infrequently spanked children versus those spanked too frequently. Only one study in their research compares a group of kids that was not spanked at all to a group that was spanked. Since in just this one study the non-spanked appeared to have better outcomes in adolescence, the researchers extrapolate all children should not be spanked. But even this one study suggested a beneficial outcome in that American soldiers who recalled being spanked as children had lower rates of drug abuse than those who did not recall being spanked. Other studies of never spanked children do exist, but they were not part of the latest study by Gershoff which the media base many of their articles on. For example, one study found slightly better adolescent outcomes for those whose spanking ended by age 12 compared to kids who were never spanked.

Two other studies published since the Gershoff study go beyond correlational evidence to obtain stronger causal evidence of the effects of spanking. One of the studies concluded that any negative effects of spanking were “trivial,” where the other study found spanked kids were worse off than other kids only when the spanking was too severe and the main disciplinary response.

As we can see, studies and research can be slanted in two opposite ways, it all depends on the writer and what kind of agenda they are pushing. Many of our newspaper and magazine writers today have an agenda against the Word of God and its truth. But when we take a closer look we find the truth of the Bible continues to stand up against all criticism and attack.

Sources:

Research on Disciplinary Spanking is Misleading—American College of Pediatricians Website

“Efforts to Ban Spanking”—Midnight Call Magazine, March 2020, pg. 28-29.