Factors That Influence Middle School Parent 's Decision

Spanking is subjective in the least. Most parents suggest that using spankings as a form of discipline is essential to the development of a compliant child. For most Americans, this truth is one of the core foundations of the American model home. “70% of mothers indicated they had spanked their child at least once by the time he or she was 2-years-old” (Lee, Altschul and Gershoff, 2015.) There are numerous amounts of evidence that point to the certainty that spanking is linked to child aggression. In,

This United States Supreme Court case looked into whether-or-not the Cruel and Unusual punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment applies to corporal punishment in public schools. Additionally, the case explored the due process clause of the 14th Amendment in terms of prior notice before the punishment is delivered.

Spanking is a fiercely debated social issue in many countries, such as the US, the United Kingdom, Canada, Israel, and Germany. There are questions over what intensity of pain is suitable until it crosses the threshold into abuse. Up until the mid-20th century it was perfectly okay in most communities for a spanking to cause a child to cry in pain throughout and have difficulty sitting down afterward, even resulting in stripes or bruises for days. Nowadays several think even mere redness of the skin abusive, while others would call it effective discipline. This causes questions as to whether children should be spanked. In addition, whether spanking is an effective method of discipline and at what point does it constitutes child abuse.

A recent study shows 70 percent of parents believe it is right to discipline a child through physical means. Most commonly, parents will spank their children but being hit with things like belts or other objects happens as well. Parenting methods haven’t changed much with time and discipline in similar no matter the country. With more studies out to find the most effective method of parenting and discipline it’s coming to attention whether or not physical harm is the best way to teach children. Parents want what is best for their children, so it is important to constantly bring up and question methods commonly accepted in the past. One method that is becoming more controversial is spanking children. Though it is still considered normal to do, it is gaining more traction and more studies are being done to find the problems it causes. Checking on parenting methods can be difficult as everyone is raised differently. It is also difficult to test which forms of punishment lead to certain outcomes. However, there is a trend of negative effects from hitting. Gershoff acknowledges, “several national professional organizations have called on parents to abandon spanking as a child rearing practice and for professionals to recommend disciplinary alternatives to spanking.” Spanking children is a terrible discipline method as it has negative effects.

One of the main points in the article “Why America Should Outlaw Spanking” by Emily Bazelon is about how many rights parents have in America. The main example talked about in this article is about corporal punishment and whether or not parents have the right to spank their child or not. Reasons being that some extreme parents take it too far sometimes, leaving bruises and possibly even fracturing bones. Politian’s believe that outlawing spanking would assist the courts in help make a ruling about child abuse. Spanking is a necessary evil that helps correct incorrect behavior. Growing up in the 90’s and early 2000’s we were always told that if

Lansford et al. (2012) used an experiment that was done beginning in 1987 called the Child Development Project in which 585 families with children going into kindergarten participated. In this experiment, mothers filled out questionnaires when their children were 6, 7, and 8 regarding frequency and severity of spanking and amount of externalizing behavior. The children's teachers also filled out a questionnaire regarding amount of externalizing behavior. Mothers were asked to rate the frequency that they spanked their child with their hand and the frequency that they spanked their child with an object on a scale of 0 to 4 with 0 meaning never, 1 meaning less than once a month, 2 meaning about once a month, 3 meaning about once a week, and 4 meaning about every day. Mothers also completed the Child Behavior Checklist which asked them to rate whether statements, such as "argues a lot," were very true or not true of their child (Lansford et al., 2012, p. 228). Teachers were asked to fill out the Teacher Report Form which consisted of the same format and similar statements to the Child Behavior Checklist.

The poll asked if a child less than one year old should be spanked. As a result, 81 percent of the mothers disagreed with spanking a child less than a year of age, and 19 percent believe a child under a year of age should be spanked (Jet 16). Then when asked if a child of 1-3 years old should be spanked, 26 percent disagreed with spanking at that age and an astounding 74 percent agreed with spanking a child of this age(Jet 16). When asked about the harshness of the spanking, 92 percent said they do not leave visible marks of damage while only eight percent say they do leave a mark upon the child (Jet 16). The results of both polls show consistent finding with the research of sociologist Richard J. Gelles, PhD, and director of the Family Violence Research Program at the University of Rhode Island. He Believes ?Hitting children is so taken for granted in out society that almost all parent view spanking as an inevitable part of raising children?(Working Mother 48). He believes this ideology will remain apart of our culture because it is infused within each of us since birth (Working Mother 48).

Did you know that in America, around 60% of all parents spank their kids? With so many people disciplining their kids, is it possible that all of those people have been doing it wrong. This old act of disciplining might be on the verge of being outdated and useless like the telegraph. Plus, it never benefits the poor kids. For example, this violent action can cause emotional or behavioral problems and might affect their childhood.

African Americans agree with spanking more often than Whites (Flynn 1994). Bradley (1998) found the opposite attitudes about spanking. African American parents preferred to use nonphysical forms of discipline. African American parents are more authoritative when it comes to discipline. Corporal punishment was only used if the parent’s power was tested. When the child test the power of a parent a form of deviance has occurred. If physical punishment occurs a belt, or spanking with an open hand is used (Bradley, 1998). Individual rates differ for who agree with spanking a child. African American rates range from 56.4% to 81.8%. Whites rates range from 30.8% to 56.9%. When it comes to the 3-4-year-old group no significant race differences in attitudes

In 2014 UNICEF reported that 80% of parents in the world support spanking (Holeman and Wire). Another study conducted in 2012 showed that 70% of parents that live in America, also, support the use of spanking (Perry). Despite the majority in favor of spanking, there are numerous debates about whether spanking is an effective way to discipline your child or not. In result of the debates many researchers have conducted studies based solely on the outcomes of spanking. A great number of the studies have concluded that there is a positive correlation between spanking and aggression, mental illness, and antisocial behaviors in the future. Despite the current view on spanking, researches have conducted many experiments which conclude that spanking has many negative outcomes. Therefore, spanking should not be used as a way to discipline kids because of its negative effects on the child’s behavior.

Should the use of corporal punishment to discipline children be considered child abuse? Annotated Bibliography

Many studies on cases of adults who have tendency to perpetuate abuses, either as a victim or as an abuser, are traced in the pattern of violence experienced at home, and many are reportedly experience being physically violated by spanking during their childhood. Despite the information and advocacy available in almost all media these days, there are still parents who thought that spanking their children to emphasize discipline is still beneficial. The benefits cited by those supporting spanking as acceptable method of discipline varied across culture and race. Generally, there are three views or positions about spanking as a form of discipline (Benject C. & Kazdin A, 2003) : Pro-corporal punishment, anti-corporal punishment, and conditional corporal punishment.

Even though there is no sufficient research base to change Americans minds to not spank their kids. (Hyman) Many latch onto the concept of using corporal punishment due to what they think is right, even though there is no evidence to support the clams they perceive. Society needs to understand that things are changing, that children these days run into different issues. But this debate will continue I’m sure until a study comes out even though it would sound unethical to spank a group of kids while not doing it to another.

Corporal punishment has been used excessively in the past, changing the way people look at it. In the article, “Corporal Punishment Still Used in Florida”, an incident happened when a mother gave the school permission to paddle her fourth-grade son. After finding out that there were bruises on her son’s behind, she regretted letting the school paddle her son. She didn’t know she was putting her son in danger when she allowed the school to paddle him. Jones, later on, stated, "There's got to be other ways to discipline kids." (----). Jones was expecting her son to get little swats if he acted up, not huge welts on his behind after being “disciplined”. The punishment went way too far. Another piece of evidence is shown in the

The researchers also found out in a survey that 30% of parents believed that spanking was not harmful to their children, 60% believed it harmful to their children, only 10% believed it would lead to severe problems. These statistics raise a startling flag when you think of the nature of this form of correction.