Study: Spanking May Lead to Aggression in Children

Posted on Apr 12, 2010

Flickr / Tina P.

Score one for the anti-spanking parental contingent: A study published in the latest issue of Pediatrics suggests there may be a link between the corporal punishment—e.g., spanking—of children and aggressive behavior on the part of those kids as they grow up.  —KA

Web MD:

“This study reinforces that any kind of violence or physical aggression in the home is another risk factor for kids being more aggressive in the future,” says Patricia Hametz, MD, director of the Injury and Violence Prevention Center and assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at Columbia University and director of the general pediatrics inpatient service at New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in New York City.

[...] “The way you discipline depends on the age of the child, and pediatricians should give age-appropriate suggestions about how to discipline toddlers,” Hametz tells WebMD. “Some people like time-outs, which remove a child from whatever it is that is overstimulating them.”

Another tactic is to reward good behavior. “Praising, pointing out, and literally rewarding good behavior is a better discipline strategy than punishing bad behavior after it happens,” she says.

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