Can spanking cause mental illness?
Recently, a new study has come out in the journal Pediatrics reporting that being spanked as a child significantly increased the chances of mental illness as an adult. The study was conducted on over 34,000 adults.
Corporal punishment has been linked to mood disorders such as depression and anxiety and drug/alcohol abuse and personality disorders.
Study author Tracie Afifi, PhD, of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, said:
“We’re not talking about just a tap on the bum, we were looking at people who used physical punishment as a regular means to discipline their children. [This study] definitely points to the direction that physical punishment should not be used on children of any age.”
With this information, should parents that spank think about choosing a different form of punishment or, spare the rod, spoil the child?
5 Comments to “Can spanking cause mental illness?”
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Heck no spanking doesn’t cause mental illness. Most kids today need to be spanked. I remember getting beat by switches, belts, and whatever else it made me into a better person.
[...] Can spanking cause mental illness?[Mama Guru] [...]
The caption is misleading. Out of all my parents kids I’m the only one who has ever gotten a “spanking”. Maybe it was the old you can’t put two female crabs in the same hole syndrome but when puberty started hitting me hard, I developed a small case of “smart mouthtitis”
. When the spankings didn’t work (lets face it, whats a few taps on the behind going to do), my mum wised up and used my vanity against me. My hair was my weakness, all of us, even my brothers have waist length hair. Every time I got smart with my mum, she cut a 1/2″ off of my hair. She only had to do it four times to cure me.
I believe that a child who is BEATEN constantly can develop some sort of mental illness. Both of my parents were beaten and neglected as children, my dad by his mum and my mum by her step-father with her mums acquiescence. They both, as adults, had issues that they sought help for separately and together.
Spankings don’t hurt children, beatings do.
Looking at an article, this study is focusing “on “harsh physical punishment,” defined as pushing, grabbing, shoving, slapping or hitting as a form of punishment from elders.”
Participants were asked: “As a child how often were you ever pushed, grabbed, shoved, slapped or hit by your parents or any adult living in your house?” Those who answered “sometimes” or greater were included in the analysis. I don’t think they’re talking about spanking, they’re talking about undeserved abuse and unprovoked punishment. They keep flip flopping with the terminology though, which makes it confusing; spanking and abuse are not interchangeable.
My goodness people please. There is nothing wrong with spanking your child(ren). Now beating the crap out of them is wrong no matter what but please stop with the spanking is wrong. One of the reasons our prisons have more people in them than high schools. Ugh!