preview

Arguments on Spanking Essay

Decent Essays

Three reasons why people do not believe in spanking are spanking can cause harmful side effects, spanking is no more effective than other punishments, and spanking promotes violence in children. Some harmful side effects that could possibly be caused by spanking are children suffering from depression, being inferior in their school performance, or having problems later on in life. It is impossible to see side effects because they are not usually revealed immediately. People also believe that spanking cannot be proven to be more effective than any other punishment. They think parents can use other positive and nonviolent punishments to show children their actions were wrong without subjecting the children to the detrimental effects of …show more content…

They believe the studies that prove spanking can be helpful, think spanking is not always wrong, or believe that harmful effects could be caused by personality differences. Marjorie Gunnoe, a psychology professor, did a study that found that people who could recall being spanked as a child had performed better in school and showed more optimistic qualities than people who were not spanked. The research completely contradicted the studies that showed spanking to be harmful. (3) Some experts take note that 50 years ago the majority of children were spanked by their parents and today there is a significant decline in the amount of children being spanked; but today more children are shown to be aggressive than in the past. There is also a possibility that the “bad effects” in spanked children could have been caused by the child’s personality or the behavioral differences that warranted the spankings. (4)
I think the second argument is stronger because it takes in account that all spankings might not be bad or harmful. Many studies against spanking do not differentiate the intensity of a spanking; a simple spanking is a world of difference from child abuse. (4) It was also be concluded by both sides of the argument that children from the ages of two to six can benefit from spanking. (2&4)
Authoritarian parents are most likely to spank their children, because they generally command respect and have more inflexible rules for children.

Get Access