George Holden (professor)

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George Walker Holden
Alma mater University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Occupation(s)Professor emeritus and Developmental Psychologist

George Walker Holden is professor emeritus and a developmental psychologist who worked at the Southern Methodist University, [1] where he was the former Chair of the Psychology Department. Prior to that he was professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Holden is the co-founder of the U.S. Alliance to End the Hitting of Children and the author of several books on the subject of child development. He is the father of three children and grandfather of five.

Contents

Early life

George Holden's father was Reuben A. Holden, who was an administrator at Yale University and later become President of Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina. [2] He received his BA from Yale University and his MA and PhD in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. [3] [4]

Positions

After graduate school, in 1984 George Holden went to the University of Texas at Austin. [4] Among other roles, he served as Associate Chair in the Department of Psychology. In 2008 he moved to Southern Methodist University where he was Professor of Psychology. From 2015 to 2020 he chaired the Department of Psychology. [5] [6] Holden co-founded the U.S. Alliance to End the Hitting of Children in 2011, and serves as the organization's President. [7] From 2011 to 2020 he served on the board of Family Compass, a Dallas child abuse prevention non-profit, where he was board president from 2016 to 2017. He currently is on the board of the National Initiative to End Corporal Punishment (beginning in 2016) and joined the board of Nurturings (formerly Attachment Parenting International) in 2021. He was previously the President of the Society for Research in Human Development. [8]

Research

Holden has researched the problem of corporal punishment of children, parenting practices and cognitions, and family violence, in addition to other topics. [9] [10] [11] In 2014 Holden released a study that showed evidence that parents that favor corporal punishment are prone to changing their minds on its usefulness if shown how the punishment can negatively affect their child. [1] In addition to his research, Holden has discussed parenting and child abuse issues and controversies in the media, [12] [13] and has written for periodicals including the New York Times. [14] In addition to research articles, he has published books on the subject including Parents and the Dynamics of Child Rearing, and he was the co-editor of the books Children Exposed to Marital Violence, and The Handbook of Family Measurement Techniques. [4] He is also the author of Parenting: A Dynamic Perspective. [15]

Honors

Holden is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, and was a various academic organizations including the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, the International Society for the Child Abuse and Neglect, and the Society for Research in Child Development. [4] In 2018 he received the Distinguished Career Award from the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. [16] He also received the Outstanding Mentor Award from the Society for Research in Human Development in 2010.

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corporal punishment</span> Punishment intended to cause physical pain

A corporal punishment or a physical punishment is a punishment which is intended to cause physical pain to a person. When it is inflicted on minors, especially in home and school settings, its methods may include spanking or paddling. When it is inflicted on adults, it may be inflicted on prisoners and slaves, and can involve methods such as whipping with a belt or a horsewhip.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time-out (parenting)</span> Short removal of a person for disciplinary reasons

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A spanking paddle is an implement used to strike a person on the buttocks. The act of spanking a person with a paddle is known as "paddling". A paddling may be for punishment, or as an initiation or hazing ritual.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washing out the mouth with soap</span> Form of physical punishment

Washing out the mouth with soap is a traditional form of physical punishment that consists of placing soap, or a similar cleaning agent, inside a person's mouth so that the person will taste it, inducing what most people consider an unpleasant experience. This form of punishment was especially common in the United States and United Kingdom from the late 19th century until the mid-20th century.

<i>Ingraham v. Wright</i> 1977 United States Supreme Court case

Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U.S. 651 (1977), was a United States Supreme Court case that upheld the disciplinary corporal punishment policy of Florida's public schools by a 5-4 vote. The judgment specified that such corporal punishments have no prohibition in public schools unless those punishments are “degrading or unduly severe”.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">School corporal punishment</span> Form of punishment

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corporal punishment in the home</span> Form of punishment used by parents to inflict physical pain or discomfort

Physical or corporal punishment by a parent or other legal guardian is any act causing deliberate physical pain or discomfort to a minor child in response to some undesired behavior. It typically takes the form of spanking or slapping the child with an open hand or striking with an implement such as a belt, slipper, cane, hairbrush or paddle, whip, hanger, and can also include shaking, pinching, forced ingestion of substances, or forcing children to stay in uncomfortable positions.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">School corporal punishment in the United States</span> United States corporal punishment in schools

Corporal punishment, sometimes referred to as "physical punishment" or "physical discipline", has been defined as the use of physical force, no matter how light, to cause deliberate bodily pain or discomfort in response to undesired behavior. In schools in the United States, corporal punishment takes the form of a school teacher or administrator striking a student's buttocks with a wooden paddle.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corporal punishment of minors in the United States</span> Infliction of pain or discomfort on minors as punishment

Corporal punishment of minors in the United States, meaning the infliction of physical pain or discomfort by parents or other adult guardians, including in some cases school officials, for purposes of punishing unacceptable attitude, is subject to varying legal limits, depending on the state. Minor children in the United States commonly experience some form of corporal punishment, such as spanking or paddling. Despite opposition from medical and social-services professionals, as of 2024, the spanking of children is legal in all 50 states and, as of 2014, most people still believe it is acceptable provided it does not involve implements. Corporal punishment is in the United States usually considered distinct from illegal child abuse, although the distinction can often be vague.

The legality of corporal punishment of children varies by country. Corporal punishment of minor children by parents or adult guardians, which is intended to cause physical pain, has been traditionally legal in nearly all countries unless explicitly outlawed. According to a 2014 estimate by Human Rights Watch, "Ninety percent of the world's children live in countries where corporal punishment and other physical violence against children is still legal". Many countries' laws provide for a defence of "reasonable chastisement" against charges of assault and other crimes for parents using corporal punishment. This defence is ultimately derived from English law. As of 2024, only three of seven G7 members including seven of the 20 G20 member states have banned the use of corporal punishment against children.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Parents can change mind on spanking if told it harms a child". UPI.
  2. Pace, Eric (December 3, 1995). "Reuben Holden, 77, College President And Yale Executive". The New York Times.
  3. Ellen Galinsky (1990). The Preschool Years. Ballantine Books. p. 11.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Kuczynski, Leon (December 31, 2003). Handbook of Dynamics in Parent-Child Relations. SAGE. ISBN   9780761923640 via Google Books.
  5. "Corporal punishment study shows kids misbehave within 10 minutes of spanking". April 15, 2014.
  6. "George Holden". www.smu.edu.
  7. Steve Hendrix (2013-01-03). "The end of spanking?". The Washington Post . Washington, D.C. ISSN   0190-8286. OCLC   1330888409.
  8. "Holden, George". SAGE Publications Inc. December 29, 2019.
  9. "SMU Study Shows Many Parents Still Spank Kids". June 30, 2011.
  10. "A Surprising Number of Americans Still Spank Their Kids".
  11. Sherman, Carter (December 13, 2016). "Texas Anti-Paddling Activists See Little Response to Education Secretary Letter". Houston Press.
  12. Nicholson, Eric (March 4, 2016). "DeSoto Mistakenly Paddles Kindergartener, Because Texas". Dallas Observer.
  13. "Make the Case: Corporal Punishment". NBC News.
  14. "Spanking Is More a Product of Stress Than Race". www.nytimes.com.
  15. "Parenting; a dynamic perspective. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com.
  16. "Children's Bodies Keep Score: The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACEs) and Psychopathology in Youth and Adults | Duke School of Medicine". medschool.duke.edu.