SUMMARY: Corporal punishment has for some time been a hotly debated subject. Various studies have produced conflicting results. Now after a five-year review of scientific literature, the American Psychological Association has concluded, "parents and caregivers should reduce and potentially eliminate their use of any physical punishment as a disciplinary measure."The recommendations, announced at the APA's annual meeting, were based on the findings of a task force of 15 psychologists which found correlations between physical punishment and an increase in childhood anxiety and depression as well as an increase in behavioral problems and impaired cognitive development, even after the child's pre-punishment behavior and development was taken into consideration.
This conclusion was not unanimous. Psychologist Robert E. Larzelere of Oklahoma State U., in presenting the minority view, said the evidence against spanking is "faulty." He pointed out that the few studies that compared spanking to non-physical types of discipline such as grounding and "time outs" all showed similar negative outcomes in children. More than 90% of American parents have used corporal punishment, a practice approved by over 60% of the population, according to a 2007 survey.
The APA is reviewing both the majority and minority positions of the task force and will issue an official recommendation at a later date.
(Picture from Wikimedia Commons)
To read the entire article, click on this SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN link.
COMMENT: If the conclusions of this APA task force are correct, then parents for thousands of years have been erring in how they raise their children. One might ask, how in the world did the human race survive into the 21st century practicing such unscientific or even "cruel" tactics as the corporal punishment of its children?
The American Psychological Association has not been friendly to Bible-based Christians in recent years. It still pushes the idea that homosexual behavior is normal. It still sells books promoting the idea that psychiatrists can uncover memories of childhood abuse in children even though it has been proven that such memories can be false or even implanted by psychiatrists. I have read reports of some dedicated Christian families having been caught in this false-memory trap. Now the APA appears on the brink of officially urging parents not to discipline their children with any type of corporal punishment.
As this article admits, not everyone is agreed that physical punishment in and of itself is a bad thing. A recent LSI Blog post examined a story about a South Carolina school in which a principal reintroduced corporal punishment with apparently very positive results. Also, why haven't parents over the years noticed that spanking invariably makes things worse if that is in fact the case.
So, should we follow the "politically correct" position about avoiding all physical discipline (even if Robert E. Larzelere is correct and the alternatives don't work any better) or should we follow a more biblically correct model? As I wrote in the April 29 post:
Proverbs 23:13 reminds us: "Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die." (NIV). Notice that the purpose of physical punishment is not to vent our anger against our children but to "discipline" them. Dictionary.com defines discipline as "punishment inflicted by way of correction and training." Therefore, we must consider whether our choice of how to punish our misbehaving children has a reasonable chance of training them or leading them to correct their bad behavior. Also, I don't believe that the term "rod" here always has to be interpreted as a physical rod. Sometimes withholding of privileges or making restitution or some other nonphysical corrective activity may be more effective than corporal punishment.
May God bless us in our efforts to correct the bad behavior of our misbehaving children (as well as erring adults) so that eventually they might see their way to a heavenly world in which misbehavior and punishment will be things of the past. This heavenly world can be reached only through our faith in Jesus, who suffered the ultimate in corporal punishment, his exceedingly painful death on a cross in which he was punished for the sins of the world.
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QUESTION OF THE DAY
How much does it cost for a middle-income family to raise a child from birth through age 17? On average, middle income families (incomes between $57,000 and $99,000) will spend $221,000. Lower income families (less than $57,000 a year) will spend an average of $160,000 and higher income families roughly $367,000. Housing is seen as the largest expense followed by food and child-care/education costs.
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (8/6/2009)
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