Research shows smacking makes children more aggressive and at risk of mental health problems
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Raymond Arthur, Northumbria University, Newcastle
It might be seen by some as one of the ultimate parenting taboos – to admit that you smack your child. Yet research from the Children’s Society reveals just 14% of adults think slapping children is unacceptable. It’s clear then that a lot of parents still see the odd smack as an acceptable form of punishment – for when all other methods of discipline have failed.
Many parents rationalise this type of punishment with the fact they too were smacked as a child and claim it didn’t do them any harm. But did it?
Recently, researchers in the US examined over 50 years’ of research involving more than 160,000 children and concluded that smacking children does in fact cause more harm than good. The researchers found smacking often “does the opposite” of what parents want and rarely results in increased immediate compliance by children. It was also shown that children who are smacked are more likely to exhibit higher levels of aggression and...
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