Study Shows Link Between Spanking And Physical
Abuse
August 21, 2008
Spanking has been, and still is, a common method of child discipline used by
American parents.
But mothers who report that they or their partner spanked their child in the
past year are nearly three times more likely to state that they also used
harsher forms of punishment than those who say their child was not spanked,
according to a new study led by the Injury Prevention Research Center at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Such punishments included behaviors considered physically abusive by the
researchers, such as beating, burning, kicking, hitting with an object somewhere
other than the buttocks, or shaking a child less than 2 years old.
"In addition, increases in the frequency of spanking are associated with
increased odds of abuse, and mothers who report spanking on the buttocks with an
object such as a belt or a switch are nine times more likely to report abuse,
compared to mothers who report no spanking with an object," said Adam J.
Zolotor, M.D., the study's lead author and an assistant professor in the
department of family medicine in the UNC School of Medicine.
The study will be published on the Web site of the American Journal of
Preventive Medicine on Tuesday (Aug. 19) and is scheduled for publication in the
print version of the journal on Sept. 17.
Although some surveys show evidence of a modest decline in spanking over the
last 30 years, recent surveys show that up to 90 percent of children between the
ages of 3 and 5 years are spanked by their parents at least occasionally.
Zolotor and his co-authors conducted an anonymous telephone survey on parenting
of a probability sample of 1,435 mothers in North Carolina and South Carolina in
2002.
Forty-five percent of the mothers reported that they or their partner had
spanked their child in the previous 12 months and 25 percent reported spanking
with an object on the buttocks. Four percent reported using harsher forms of
punishment that met the study's definition of physical abuse.
Statistical analyses of the survey data found that while any spanking was
associated with increased risk of abuse, spanking with an object was strongly
associated with abuse. Only 2 percent of the mothers who reported no spanking
reported use of physically abusive punishment. In comparison, 6 percent of
mothers who reported spanking and 12 percent of mothers who reported spanking
with an object also reported abusive punishment.
"This study demonstrated for the first time that parents who report
spanking children with an object and parents who frequently spank children are
much more likely to report other harsh punishment acts consistent with physical
abuse," Zolotor said.
The study concluded that efforts to reduce spanking, especially with an object,
through media, educational and legislative means may reduce physical child
abuse.
The American Academy of Pediatrics states that "striking a child with an
object is unacceptable and may be dangerous." Zolotor said the study
supports this policy statement by underscoring that while spanking increases the
likelihood of physical abuse, frequent spanking and spanking with an object are
far more likely to lead to abuse. He said this may be due to the limited
effectiveness of discipline when parents have few other tools for discipline
(such as positive reinforcement and time out).
Co-authors of the study were Adrea D. Theodore, M.D., assistant professor in the
department of social medicine in the UNC School of Medicine; Molly C. Berkoff,
M.D., assistant professor in the department of pediatrics in the UNC School of
Medicine; Desmond K. Runyan, M.D., Dr.P.H., professor of social medicine and
pediatrics in the UNC School of Medicine and adjunct professor of epidemiology
in the UNC School of Public Health; and Jen Jen Chang, Ph.D., who earned her
doctorate at UNC and now is an assistant professor at the Saint Louis University
School of Public Health.
This study was supported by the Duke Endowment and the Sunshine Lady Foundation.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine
101 Manning Dr., 6002 East Wing
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
United States
http://www.med.unc.edu
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