Children who are spanked by their parent frequently at age of three are more likely to develop aggressive behaviour when they're five. This is according to a recent study published in the May 2010 issue of the journal Paediatrics. In the study, researchers surveyed 2,500 mothers with young children of the age of three. It was found that two years later, the mothers who had spanked their children more frequently reported higher levels of aggressive behaviour such as arguing, shouting, screaming, fighting, destroying things, acts of cruelty or bullying in their children.
In the survey done at the children's age of three, nearly half of the mothers had said that they had not spanked their children in the past month, while 27.9 per cent said reported spanking one or two times and 26.5 reported spanking more than twice.
The result of the study reinforce earlier studies which have found that young children who are spanked have lower IQ scores. Frequent spanking during childhood has been linked to growing up problems such as anxiety and behaviour problems as well as higher risk of violent or criminal behaviour, depression and excessive alcohol use.
The American Academy of Paediatrics strongly discourage striking children for any reason and recommends more effective means such as time outs, withholding special privileges and logical consequences for bad actions like taking toys away for the rest of the day if a child does not keep them properly after play.
Perhaps, I am one of the outliers. I was punished almost weekly by my Chinese language teacher in Primary 3 and Primary 5. I had the misfortune of having that horrible man as my teacher twice. I failed almost all my weekly spelling and I swear, by the smirk on his face, that he took delight in slapping my palm with a ruler or hitting my buttock. I do not remember the physical pain. It is the shame and humiliation that haunts me. I grew up hating the subject and today, I cannot read and write in Chinese. But I digressed. Despite being spanked, I do not think that I have aggressive behaviour today. I do not punish my daughter by spanking. I do not see the need for punishment in the past two years. I had only made her stand in a corner twice when she was younger. It is a simple thing but the fact that I am angry enough to punish her is punishment enough for my daughter. So, do I have aggressive behaviour? I think not.
Perhaps, I am one of the outliers. I was punished almost weekly by my Chinese language teacher in Primary 3 and Primary 5. I had the misfortune of having that horrible man as my teacher twice. I failed almost all my weekly spelling and I swear, by the smirk on his face, that he took delight in slapping my palm with a ruler or hitting my buttock. I do not remember the physical pain. It is the shame and humiliation that haunts me. I grew up hating the subject and today, I cannot read and write in Chinese. But I digressed. Despite being spanked, I do not think that I have aggressive behaviour today. I do not punish my daughter by spanking. I do not see the need for punishment in the past two years. I had only made her stand in a corner twice when she was younger. It is a simple thing but the fact that I am angry enough to punish her is punishment enough for my daughter. So, do I have aggressive behaviour? I think not.
