SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 27, 2001 (LSN.ca) – A study presented at a meeting of the American Psychological Association finds that spanking causes no negative effects. The study found that a majority of families use spanking as a form of discipline and that the children of those who did spank showed no negative effects on cognitive, social or behavioral skills compared to children who were not spanked.
However, the study found that children who were punished verbally, frequently and impulsively as well as those hit in the face or shook were found to be affected. Those children were found to be not as adjusted socially and more likely to have behavioral problems or experience anxiety or depression.
Diana Baumrind and Elizabeth Owens from the Institute of Human Development at the University of California at Berkeley studied 100 middle-class white families from 1968 to 1980. The children and parents were interviewed when the children were 4, 9 and 14.
See the CNN coverage at: https://www.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/parenting/08/24/healthy.spankings.ap/index.html