The issue of whether spanking does or does not contribute to later aggression remains controversial despite public policy statements by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other groups opposing spanking. Studies have remained inconsistent regarding whether spanking does or does not contribute to later aggression.
The Journal of Pediatrics published a research article by Jeff R. Temple, PhD, et al, in 2018 titled, "Childhood Corporal Punishment and Future Perpetration of Physical Dating Violence." The results were from an adult-retrospective study and suggested that spanking and related corporal punishment could predict adult dating violence, but that actual physical child abuse exposure did not.
New research findings published in Springer Nature's Psychiatric Quarterly journal attempted to replicate the study by using similar methodologies.
"Child Abuse, Spanking and Adult Dating Violence: A Replication Study of Temple et al, 2018" is based on research by Chris Ferguson, PhD, professor of psychology at Stetson University.
Current results did not replicate the findings of Temple et al, 2018. Exposure to child physical abuse predicted adult dating violence, but exposure to spanking and related corporal punishment did not. These results suggest it may be premature to link spanking to aggression in adulthood.
I had a chance to interview Dr. Ferguson to learn more.
Why did you get involved in researching spanking?
I've been interested in aggression for quite some time and as part of that I've seen how often aggression research is used in furtherance of social or political agendas. So we have a lot of situations where people make big, bold statements about what causes aggression even when the research is less solid. In this case, people, and I mean scholars, were linking spanking from everything from aggression (which at least makes some theoretical sense, whether or not the evidence is there) to adult medical illnesses like heart disease (which makes no sense at all.) When you get those sort of pronouncements it can be an indication that a field has jumped the rails. When I looked at the past evidence on spanking, I found it was not as clear as some folks were advertising. To be clear, I am not advocating *for* spanking or saying parents should spank. I am interested solely in the honesty and integrity of scientific communications, not spanking as a discipline practice itself.
Why is it very important to distinguish spanking from child abuse?
Ultimately, as scientists, we want to make sure we're analyzing data appropriately so we can more clearly understand what predictors are associated with what outcomes. If we don't, people may waste a lot of time, political capital and medical resources on a practice that really doesn't matter a whole lot, at least in the aggregate. To the extent that professional guilds like the American Academy of Pediatrics or American Psychological Association embrace a false belief, this can damage the credibility of these organizations. Ultimately, we have to be sure that our statements about science to the general public are data based. It's perfectly fine to morally oppose spanking, of course, and even decide as a society to get rid of it as a practice. But we shouldn't misinform the public about the science in order to get there.
What are some reasons that child abuse can lead to dating violence?
It can be hard to say. It does appear that there's an intergenerational nature to violence perpetration. But there are two potential avenues here. The first is that children raised in violent homes are stressed and develop personalities that make them prone to violence themselves (this is a form of the "believe violence is ok" message, although the routes of transmission here are more complex than mere monkey-see, monkey-do or thinking something is "ok"). The other route is genetic...violent people passing violent genes to their kids. Of course, both could be at play. Some genes may make us more prone to violence, but then being exposed to violence makes the expression of those genes worse.
How can parents make sure that they aren't crossing a line into abuse if they do use spanking?
Overall, spanking should be minimal, with more focus on positive reinforcements where possible. Never spank because you feel angry (it's natural to feel angry, but give yourself a minute to calm down). Never do it to humiliate the child. If it is necessary under an unusual circumstance, be sure to explain to the child why and reassure them that you love them. Ultimately, though the patterns from parenting to adult behavior are complex, I'm increasingly convinced the evidence suggests that, whatever else you do, right or wrong, one of the most powerful impacts you can have on your kids is assuring them you love them (or, by contrast, convincing them that you don't.)
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