Children who are spanked frequently at age 3 are more likely to be
aggressive when they’re 5, even when you account for possible
confounding factors and the child’s level of aggression at age 3.
The
study, “Mothers’ Spanking of 3-Year-Old Children and Subsequent Risk of Children’s Aggressive Behavior,” in the May issue of Pediatrics
(published online April 12), asked nearly 2,500 mothers how often they
had spanked their 3-year-old child in the past month, as well as
questions about their child’s level of aggression, demographic features
such as child gender, and eight maternal parenting risk factors, such as
parenting stress, depression, alcohol use, and the presence of other
types of aggression within the family. Almost half (45.6 percent) of the
mothers reported no spanking in the previous month, while 27.9 percent
reported spanking one or two times, and 26.5 percent reported spanking
more than twice. Mothers with more parenting risk factors were more
likely to spank frequently. However, even after accounting for these
potential confounding factors, frequent spanking at age 3 increased the
odds of higher levels of aggression at age 5.
Despite recommendations
from the American Academy of Pediatrics against spanking, most parents
in the U.S. approve of and have used corporal punishment as a form of
child discipline. Researchers state that this study suggests that even
minor forms of corporal punishment increase the risk for child
aggressive behavior.
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The American Academy of
Pediatrics is an organization of 60,000 primary care pediatricians,
pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists
dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children,
adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org.