Corporal Punishment
Lakeisha Fletcher
PSY101: Introduction to Psychology
Instructor: Sabrina Geoffrion
May 16, 2016

Corporal Punishment
Corporal punishment is a harsh disciplinary act that involves physical pain to an individual mostly relating to a child. There has been some debates about the issue of corporal punishment, and whether is it needed in school and even in the home settings. There is also some debate that there may be some advantages to having corporal punishment. Who really has a say so when parents use certain strategies to discipline their children? Is there really a line that needs to be drawn so that parents know when disciplining your child has gone too far. Even though corporal punishment can have some possible advantages when children misbehave, there are more effective ways that parents can use to discipline their children.
The benefits of disciplining your child can be beneficial if the acts are carried out appropriately. Corporal punishment in the form of severe physical pain or humiliation can prove to have negative effects on the child’s behavior. Corporal punishment can also be clearly defined in the commonly form of spanking or smacking, but also may include slapping, pinching, pulling hair, twisting ears, or hitting with an object such as a rod or stick (Zolotor & Puzia, 2010). As a result of such harsh treatment, it has been mentioned that it is against the law to practice corporal punishment in certain states and schools. Research suggests that individuals generally hold favorable attitudes toward child corporal punishment and toward parents’ legal right to use corporal punishment for disciplinary purposes (Romano, Bell, & Norian, 2013). With this in mind, parents having the right to use corporal punishment does not mean that it should be their only means to solving behavioral issues with their children. It would seem that from research purposes that parents would generally like the option of using corporal punishment if necessary within their own households. With that being said, by keeping up with what is going on with our children, and being very present in their lives can be a preventive measure to using corporal punishment. According to the law, nineteen of twenty-four countries with legislative bans on corporal punishment are in Europe, with three others in Central or South America, one in the Middle East and one in Oceania. There are no bans on corporal punishment in Asia or North America (Zolotor & Puzia, 2010). In the states, the disciplinary acts of the child is considered a family matter which tends to be interpreted as a private and up to the parents to see fit how that discipline is carried out.
The history of corporal punishment has to do with various factors such as age, demographics, and even religious beliefs. Depending on how some individuals in the families were raised, they may feel that their methods of discipline are well within their means, and some families feel what goes on in their household is no one else’s concern. The controversy with is issue is that corporal punishment has also been linked to mental health issues with certain individuals later on in life. How much does the use of punishing children in this way affect them in the long run? Corporal punishment can have long-lasting negative effects on children’s psychological adjustment and is linked to such negative outcomes later in life as depression, suicidal ideation, problem drinking, child abuse, and wife abuse (Gershoff, 2002; Straus & Kaufman Kantor, 1994).Parents that are in favor of such punishments may have children that result in having higher rates of mental issues. However, there are certain researchers that feel that this may not always be the case. Even though corporal punishment seems to be related to negative outcomes when mediated by perceived parental rejection. Notably, Rohner et al.(1991)found that children who experienced love and acceptance from the punishing parent tended to demonstrate positive levels of psychological adjustment despite experiencing corporal punishment. This is why there is such a debate to whether the use of corporal punishment has a negative or a positive effects on the well-being and mental state of children. With the punishment being such an aggressive act it can be easily seen why the odds would be against the use of it, but on the other hand within the means of loving parents dealing out the punishment could clearly stop unwanted behaviors from occurring. Some forms of corporal punishment such as spanking is supposed to be used to indicate valuable lessons from the parents and it is supposed to encourage continued positive behaviors. In addition the act of spanking is more of a consequence because of repeated unwanted behaviors, disrespectfulness or disobedience of some kind, and in return the goal is to behave accordingly so that the thought of corporal punishment would not arise.
The reasons for the use of corporal punishments continuing to be carried out in certain households can be due to history of violence in the home, and also has to do with the parents personal views on what discipline really is. Discipline is an inherent part of parenting that targets children’s socialization. It is often seen as a multidimensional concept that includes specific parenting behaviors or practices expressed in a particular social and emotional context it is used privately, it is used flexibly, it occurs after a single warning, and it is combined with reasoning or other disciplinary strategies (Fréchette, Zoratti, & Romano, 2015). Within reason the law gives parents major control over the corporal punishment that is used within their household. The issue with this is when it becomes too much and considered abuse instead of discipline. What can be perceived as normative corporal punishment and appropriate parenting, such as spanking, can also be considered abusive when taken to the extreme. This can consist of spanking on the face, or multiple episodes of spanking per day (Gershoff, 2002). Research indicates that the greater the frequency and severity of corporal punishment, the greater the likelihood that parents will use harsher punishments, which approach and potentially meet current definitions of child physical abuse (Belsky, 1993). When the use of corporal punishment is taken out of context then there has to be alternative measures that need to be used instead of this. This is where the other part of the controversy starts. With the use of corporal punishment being a private family matter, it is hard to determine sometimes when true abuse is occurring. This is why there are certain laws that are set into place to help the children when suspect of abuse occurs.
Even though there are laws and views that are against corporal punishment, there are those that support it. Some may argue that the use of corporal punishment may be helpful in preventing children from carrying out certain unwanted actions or behaviors. In some cases the use of corporal punishment is to keep children in line and as mentioned earlier it is used as a consequences. Some parental figures use the old saying that if you spare the rod, you spoil the child and that their spoiled, and use the punishment as a quick fix to undesired conduct. Another family factor that may influence the effects of corporal punishment on children is the gender of the physically punishing or supportive parent. In general, literature examining parent–child relationships suggests that parental gender greatly impacts the nature of interactions and the types of influences that parents have on children (Harper, Brown, Arias, & Brody, 2006). In most families the father tends to be the one that carries out the discipline in the household. Males tend to be stronger than women, so the physical strength of the father may be more severe along the lines of corporal punishment than it would be if the mother were to carry it out. This says that if gender is really a factor, then the parent that has the most physically strength may not need to be the parent that is giving out the spanking. Maybe a compromise can be made along the lines of discipline and then as a result of this the issue of corporal punishment may not be such a major issue. On another note, some parents may also feel that they are setting an example so that their children do not continue to do the wrong things in life by making bad decisions, or end up incarcerated or something worse.
Generally there are many other reasons why the use of corporal punishment is being used which could be parents experiencing stress, job loss, and even postpartum depression. Several risk factors, including parental social support, parenting skills, knowledge and ability to use effective implicated in research on child maltreatment (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). Parents that do not or may not know how to seek help for family issues that may be occurring could result in the use of repeated corporal punishment. According to one study, specifically, mothers who reported a positive history of postpartum depression had greater than six times higher odds of corporal punishment of children than mothers who reported no history of postpartum (Knox, Rosenberger, Sarwar, Mangewala, & Klag, 2015). As a result of these findings, not only can there be parents that have issues with postpartum, but there are even parents out in the world that may not know any other way of disciplining their children. This is why it is very important to get awareness out that other strategies are available for parents to use. Getting parents to understand that using punishment—especially corporal punishment—sparingly as it is not very effective for eliminating undesirable behavior and even less effective for teaching desirable behavior (LeFrancois, 2011). There are many factors to consider in the controversy with the use of corporal punishment, which is why in addition to awareness, parents need support groups, classes, conflict resolution coursers, and possibly family therapy to learn other effective ways of using discipline for their children. It will help parents to understand that the use of corporal punishment can send mixed messages to children, cause unnecessary injuries, and trauma which in turn could make the conduct displayed even worse.
In conclusion, the use of corporal punishment has major effects on anyone that has been inflicted with such harsh and detrimental actions. Parents need to find a balance and understand the social emotional factors that come with using corporal punishment with their children. It could carry on the cycle that can be never ending if parents don’t take a new stand with the use of it. Even though the use of corporal punishment may have some immediate positive effects, in the long term it can create issues with our children in the long run. Because of this there are more positive ways that can be used to keep our children on the straight and narrow.

Reference
Belsky. (1993). Etiology of child maltreatment: a developmental ecological analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 114(3), 413–434.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Child maltreatment: Risk and protective factors. Retrieved from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website: http://www .cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childmaltreatment/ riskprotectivefactors.html
Harper, F., Brown, A., Arias, I., & Brody, G. (2006). Corporal punishment and kids: how do parent support and gender influence child adjustment?. Journal Of Family Violence, 21(3), 197-207 11p.
Fréchette, S., Zoratti, M., & Romano, E. (2015). What Is the Link Between Corporal Punishment and Child Physical Abuse?. Journal Of Family Violence, 30(2), 135-148 14p. doi:10.1007/s10896-014-9663-9
Knox, M., Rosenberger, R., Sarwar, S., Mangewala, V., & Klag, N. (2015). History of postpartum depression and the odds of maternal corporal punishment. Families, Systems, & Health, 33(4), 395-399. doi:10.1037/fsh0000157.
LeFrancois, G. (2011). Psychology: The human puzzle. San Diego: CA, Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Rohner, R. P., Kean, K. J., and Cournoyer, D. E. (1991). Effects of corporal punishment, perceived caretaker warmth, and cultural beliefs on the psychological adjustment of children in St. Kitts, West Indies. J. Marriage Fam. 53: 681–693.
Romano, E., Bell, T., & Norian, R. (2013). Corporal Punishment: Examining Attitudes Toward the Law and Factors Influencing Attitude Change. Journal Of Family Violence, 28(3), 265-275 11p. doi:10.1007/s10896-013-9494-0
Zolotor, A. J., & Puzia, M. E. (2010). Bans against corporal punishment: a systematic review of the laws, changes in attitudes and behaviours. Child Abuse Review,19(4), 229-247