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The Negative Impact of Corporal Punishment In Children

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The Negative Impact of Corporal Punishment in Children

Introduction

Corporal punishment among children has been associated with various devastating

effects, such as it has contributed to increased aggression, psychological challenges, and

antisocial behavior. The study aims to foster the necessary education for parents to avoid

corporal punishment, which is associated with various negative implications. The paper's

literature review details the prevalence of child corporal punishment in the United States and the

most common types of this issue, such as spanking. The literature review will depict how the

aspect has transformed for various decades and why parents need statistical support to be

educated about this issue. The theoretical framework will illustrate how the issue can lead to

parent-child unattachment and its prevalence based on the parent-child relationship. The research

problem is that child corporal punishment remains a major issue in the U.S., affecting child

development, and appropriate education is needed, especially for parents, to end this issue. For

instance, based on the research conducted by WHO (2021), approximately 60% of children aged

between 2-14 years are subjected to physical punishment by their parents or caregivers. As a

result, this has heightened the risk of maltreatment, leading to a range of negative outcomes both

physically, socially, and cognitively. For past decades, research shows that the prevalence of the

issue exists. For instance, based on Gershoff's (2010) research, in the United States, corporal

punishment was considered a regular method for disciplining children. Thus, this ideology has

fostered the issue to be even present in contemporary society. Therefore, since parents have close

contact with their children, the current research literature lacks the appropriate way of

minimizing this issue, such as educating the parents about the negative effects of corporal

punishment on child development.

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Literature Review

According to the research conducted by Miller-Perrin and Perrin (2018), the United

Nations on the Rights of the Child stated that all the member nations should "take all appropriate

legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of

physical or mental violence." In addition, Miller-Perrin and Perrin's (2018) research depicts that

the U.S. federal law does not significantly define corporal punishment but gives parents

immunity in using reasonable force when controlling and correcting their children. To highlight

the challenges associated with children's corporal punishment, Miller-Perrin and Perrin (2018)

thematically analyze that children's corporal punishment should end based on professional

standards. For instance, American Psychological Association opposed physical punishment of

children (Miller-Perrin & Perrin, 2018). The strengths of Miller-Perrin and Perrin's (2018)

research is that, it highlights the challenges of punishing children and base the research on

professional best practice standards that oppose children's punishment. The weakness of the

research is that it does not specify the best strategies for minimizing corporal punishment. Only

they offer suggestions for change of attitudes and practices about corporal punishment of

children.

Moreover, based on the research conducted by Gershoff et al. (2017), corporal

punishment from parents highly yielded physical punishment and spanking. In addition, the

research depicted that, based on the study carried out on families that participated Early Head

Start program in the U.S., 34% of mothers reported punishing their children, especially those

aged between 2-3 years, at least once per week. It depicts that children punishment in the U.S.

remains a prevalent issue. Qualitatively, the research analyzes the necessary strategies for
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minimizing punishment among children. The strengths of the research are that it gives various

strategies for dealing with child punishment, such as programs targeting programs.

In further consideration to the research conducted by Mehus and Patrick (2021), various

studies have depicted the aspect of corporal punishment being prevalent. The research employs

data analysis from Monitoring the Study, where despite the proof that punishment has been

reduced, some parents still subjected their children to punishment. The strength of the research is

that it examines large data from 1993-2017 to depict the prevalence of some form of punishment

such as spanking. The weakness of the research is that it does not offer a possible solution on

how the issue of punishment among children can be reduced (Mehus & Patrick, 2021). What

remains to be studied is educating parents to minimize corporal punishment in children.

According to the research conducted by Gershoff (2010), corporal punishment in the

United States remains to be one of the holdouts of childbearing. The research further shows that

parents usually intend corporal punishment for various goals. They use corporal punishment to

correct the children's misbehavior and avoid the repetition of undesired behavior. Thematically,

the research analyses the intended and unintended effects of corporal punishment and the related

effects. The strength of this research is that it depicts corporal punishment in different views.

What remains to be most of the concern is that, despite some policies that have been

implemented to avoid corporal punishment, U.S. parents continue to use it at some point.

Fleckman et al.'s (2021) research illustrate the most effective way to solve this issue is by

educating parents about the negative ramifications associated with the issue of child corporal

punishment. Based on the literature synthesis, the main gap in corporal punishment is the lack of

necessary education to parents concerning the negative effects associated with child corporal
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punishment. Based on the research study, the gap will be addressed by providing the necessary

education to parents concerning children's corporal punishment.

Chapter 3: theoretical framework

Based on the issue of corporal punishment, the theory that can fit this phenomenon is the

theory of attachment, which Bowlby developed. The attachment theory emphasizes studying the

relationship that exists between parent-child. The major hypothesis of the theory is that it shows

the essentiality of caring relationships for the achievement of excellent child development. In

addition, the theory suggests that "a good naturing relationship between parent and child shapes

future, social, cognitive, and emotional development of the child" (Popov & Ilesanmi, 2015).

The theory has significantly applied previously to depict the association between parent and the

child behavior (Ward et al., 2020). The research shows that, when trying to punish children,

some parents use physical punishment in response to undesirable behaviors of the children. Ward

et al.'s (2020) research show that about 70% of American adults agree that spanking is the best

form of disciplining children. By theorizing the issue of corporal punishment, the research

depicts that corporal punishment, such as spanking, can lead to externalizing behavior without a

good mother-child attachment style. The rationale for the choice of this theory is that it shows

how corporal punishment can be intensified by poor parent-child attachment.

The theory related to the present study as the parent-child relationship is associated with

long-term implications. It will depict how poor parent-child attachment can subject children to

corporal punishment. Therefore, based on this case, the theory will foster how to deliver

appropriate education to parents. The research question relates to how educating parents can

reduce corporal punishment in children. The research question builds upon existing theory. It

will examine the antisocial and externalizing behaviors, the behavioral characteristics of both
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children and parents, and the negative affectivity between parents and children that can lead to

corporal punishment. As a result, this will deliver appropriate education to parents concerning

the abolition of corporal punishment, based on the attachment theory.

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References

Fleckman, J. M., Scholer, S. J., Branco, N., & Taylor, C. A. (2021). Educating parents about

corporal punishment and effective discipline: Pediatricians' preparedness, motivation,

and barriers. Academic Pediatrics, 21(1), 149-157.

Gershoff E. T. (2010). MORE HARM THAN GOOD: A SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC

RESEARCH ON THE INTENDED AND UNINTENDED EFFECTS OF CORPORAL

PUNISHMENT ON CHILDREN. Law and contemporary problems, 73(2), 31–56.

Gershoff, E. T., Lee, S. J., & Durrant, J. E. (2017). Promising intervention strategies to reduce

parents' use of physical punishment. Child abuse & neglect, 71, 9–23.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.01.017

Mehus, C. J., & Patrick, M. E. (2021). Prevalence of Spanking in U.S. National Samples of 35-

Year-Old Parents From 1993 to 2017. JAMA pediatrics, 175(1), 92–94.

https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.2197

Miller-Perrin, C., & Perrin, R. (2018). Physical punishment of children by U.S. parents: moving

beyond debate to promote children's health and well-being. Psicologia: Reflexão e

Crítica, 31.

Popov, L. M., & Ilesanmi, R. A. (2015). Parent-child relationship: Peculiarities and outcome.

Rev. Eur. Stud., 7, 253.

W.H.O. (2021). Corporal punishment and health. Retrieved from, https://www.who.int/news-

room/fact-sheets/detail/corporal-punishment-and-health

Ward, K. P., Lee, S. J., Pace, G. T., Grogan-Kaylor, A., & Ma, J. (2020). Attachment style and

the association of spanking and child externalizing behavior. Academic pediatrics, 20(4),

501-507.