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Spanking is a form of corporal punishment involving the act of striking, with either the palm of the hand or an implement, the buttocks of a person to cause physical pain. The term spanking broadly encompasses the use of either the hand or implement, though the use of certain implements can also be characterized as other, more specific types of corporal punishment such as belting, caning, paddling and slippering.
Some parents spank children in response to undesired behavior. [1] [2] Adults more commonly spank boys than girls both at home and in school. [3] Some countries have outlawed the spanking of children in every setting, including homes, schools, and penal institutions, [4] while others permit it when done by a parent or guardian.
In American English, dictionaries define spanking as being administered with either the open hand or an implement such as a paddle. [5] Thus, the standard form of corporal punishment in US schools (use of a paddle) is often referred to as a spanking. In North America, the word "spanking" has often been used as a synonym for an official paddling in school, [6] and sometimes even as a euphemism for the formal corporal punishment of adults in an institution. [7]
In British English, most dictionaries define "spanking" as being given only with the open hand. [8] In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, the word "smacking" is generally used in preference to "spanking" when describing striking with an open hand, rather than with an implement. Whereas a spanking is invariably administered to the bottom, a "smacking" is less specific and may refer to slapping the child's hands, arms or legs as well as its bottom. [9]
Parents commonly spank their children as a form of corporal punishment in the United States; however, support for this practice appears to be declining amongst U.S. parents. [1] [10] Spanking is typically done with one or more slaps on the child's buttocks with a bare hand, although, not uncommonly, various objects are used to spank children, such as a hairbrush or wooden spoon. [1] Historically, adults have spanked boys more than girls. [3] [11] In the United States, adults commonly spank toddlers the most. [12] The main reasons parents give for spanking their children are to make children more compliant and to promote better behavior, especially to put a stop to their children's apparent aggressive behaviors. [ citation needed ]
However, research has shown that spanking (or any other form of corporal punishment) is associated with the opposite effect. [1] [10] When adults physically punish children, the children tend to obey parents less with time and develop more aggressive behaviors, including toward other children. [1] This increase in aggressive behavior appears to reflect the child's perception that hitting is the way to deal with anger and frustration. [1] There are also many adverse physical, mental, and emotional effects correlated with spanking and other forms of corporal punishment, including various physical injuries, increased anxiety, depression, and antisocial behavior. [1] [13] [14] Adults who were spanked during their childhood are more likely to abuse their children and spouse. [1]
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) all recommend that no child should be spanked and instead favor the use of effective, healthy forms of discipline. [1] [10] [15] [16] Additionally, the AAP recommends that primary care providers (e.g., pediatricians and family medicine physicians) begin to discuss parents' discipline methods no later than nine months of age and consider initiating such discussions by age 3–4 months. [1] By eight months of age, 5% of parents report spanking and 5% report starting to spank by age three months. [1] The AAP also recommends that pediatricians discuss effective discipline strategies and counsel parents about the ineffectiveness of spanking and the risks of harmful effects associated with the practice to minimize harm to children and guide parents. [10] [17]
Although parents and other advocates of spanking often claim that spanking is necessary to promote child discipline, studies have shown that parents tend to apply physical punishment inconsistently and tend to spank more often when they are angry or under stress. [18] The use of corporal punishment by parents increases the likelihood that children will suffer physical abuse, [1] and most documented cases of physical abuse in Canada and the United States begin as disciplinary spankings. [19] If a child is frequently spanked, this form of corporal punishment tends to become less effective at modifying behavior over time (also known as extinction). [1] In response to decreased effectiveness of spanking, some parents increase the frequency or severity of spanking or use an object. [1]
Parents may spank less – or not at all – if they have learned effective discipline techniques, since many parents view spanking as a method of last resort to discipline their children. [10] There are many alternatives to spanking and other forms of corporal punishment:
Corporal punishment, usually delivered with an implement (such as a paddle or cane) rather than with the open hand, used to be a common form of school discipline in many countries, but it is now banned in most of the Western World.
Corporal punishment, such as caning, remains a common form of discipline in schools in several Asian and African countries, even in countries in which this practice has been deemed illegal such as India and South Africa. [20] [21] [22] In these cultures it is referred to as "caning" and not "spanking." The Supreme Court of the United States in 1977 held that the paddling of school students was not per se unlawful. [23] However, 33 states have now banned paddling in public schools. It is still common in some schools in the South, and more than 167,000 students were paddled in the 2011–2012 school year in American public schools. [24] Students can be physically punished from kindergarten to the end of high school, meaning that even adults who have reached the age of majority are sometimes spanked by school officials. [25]
A number of medical, pediatric or psychological societies have issued statements opposing all forms of corporal punishment in schools, citing such outcomes as poorer academic achievements, increases in antisocial behaviors, injuries to students, and an unwelcoming learning environment. They include the American Medical Association, [26] the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, [27] the American Psychoanalytic Association, [28] the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), [29] [30] the Society for Adolescent Medicine, [31] [32] the American Psychological Association, [33] the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, [34] [35] the Royal College of Psychiatrists, [36] the Canadian Paediatric Society [37] and the Australian Psychological Society, [38] as well as the United States' National Association of School Psychologists and National Association of Secondary School Principals. [39] [40]
Most spanking performed between adults in the 21st century within the Western world is erotic spanking.[ citation needed ]
Within the early 20th century, American men spanking their wives and girlfriends was often seen as an acceptable form of domestic discipline. It was a common trope in American films, from the earliest days up through the 1960s, and was often used to allude to romance between the man and woman. [41]
In the early 21st century, adherents of a small subculture known as Christian domestic discipline have on a literalist interpretation of the Bible justified spanking as a form of acceptable punishment of women by their husbands. [42] Critics describe such practices as a form of domestic abuse. [43]
A few countries have a judicial corporal punishment for adults.
On the first day of the lunar Chinese new year holidays, a week-long 'Spring Festival', the most important festival for Chinese people all over the world, thousands of Chinese visit the Taoist Dong Lung Gong temple in Tungkang to go through the century-old ritual to get rid of bad luck. Men traditionally receive spankings and women get whipped, with the number of strokes to be administered (always lightly) by the temple staff being decided in either case by the god Wang Ye and by burning incense and tossing two pieces of wood, after which all go home happily, believing their luck will improve. [44]
On Easter Monday, there is a Slavic tradition of spanking girls and young ladies with woven willow switches (Czech: pomlázka; Slovak: korbáč) and dousing them with water. [45] [46] [47]
In Slovenia, there is a jocular tradition that anyone who succeeds in climbing to the top of Mount Triglav receives a spanking or birching. [48]
In Poland there is a tradition named Pasowanie , which is celebrated on the 18th birthday. The birthday person receives eighteen smacks with the belt from the guests at the birthday party. [49]
Birthday spanking is a tradition within some parts of the United States. Within the tradition an individual (commonly, though not exclusively, a child) upon their birthday receives, typically corresponding to their age, a number of spanks. Characteristically these spankings are playful, and are administered in such a fashion so the recipient receives no or only minor discomfort.
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.
A time-out is a form of behavioral modification that involves temporarily separating a person from an environment where an unacceptable behavior has occurred. The goal is to remove that person from an enriched, enjoyable environment, and therefore lead to extinction of the offending behavior. It is an educational and parenting technique recommended by most pediatricians and developmental psychologists as an effective form of discipline. During time-outs, a corner or a similar space is designated, where the person is to sit or stand. This form of discipline is especially popular in Western cultures.
Discipline is the self-control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed, and the ability to keep working at something that is difficult. Disciplinarians believe that such self-control is of the utmost importance and enforce a set of rules that aim to develop such behavior. Such enforcement is sometimes based on punishment, although there is a clear difference between the two. One way to convey such differences is through the root meaning of each word: discipline means “to teach”, while punishment means “to correct or cause pain”. While punishment might extinguish unwanted behavior in the moment, it is rarely effective long-term, while discipline usually is.
Caning is a form of corporal punishment consisting of a number of hits with a single cane usually made of rattan, generally applied to the offender's bare or clothed buttocks or hands. Caning on the knuckles or shoulders is much less common. Caning can also be applied to the soles of the feet. The size and flexibility of the cane and the mode of application, as well as the number of the strokes, may vary.
Toilet training is the process of training someone, particularly a toddler or infant, to use the toilet for urination and defecation. Attitudes toward training in recent history have fluctuated substantially, and may vary across cultures and according to demographics. Many of the contemporary approaches to toilet training favor a behaviorism and cognitive psychology-based approach.
Child discipline is the methods used to prevent future unwanted behaviour in children. The word discipline is defined as imparting knowledge and skill, in other words, to teach. In its most general sense, discipline refers to systematic instruction given to a disciple. To discipline means to instruct a person to follow a particular code of conduct.
Ole Ivar Løvaas was a Norwegian-American clinical psychologist and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is most well known for his research on what is now called applied behavior analysis (ABA) to teach autistic children through prompts, modeling, and positive reinforcement. His application of the science was also noted for its use of aversives (punishment) to reduce undesired behavior, which are no longer supported as a part of most ABA treatment plans.
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.
In sociology and psychology, poisonous pedagogy, also called black pedagogy, is any traditional child-raising methods which modern pedagogy considers repressive and harmful. It includes behaviours and communication that theorists consider to be manipulative or violent, such as extreme forms of corporal punishment.
Slippering is a term for the act of smacking the buttocks, or the hands, with a slipper or a slide as a form of corporal punishment. A slippering on the buttocks is a form of spanking; it is a much more common method than slippering on the hands. The verb "to slipper" means "to give a slippering". Slipperings are particularly associated with Britain and Commonwealth countries, although not exclusively so.
School corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of physical pain as a response to undesired behavior by students. The term corporal punishment derives from the Latin word for the "body", corpus. In schools it may involve striking the student on the buttocks or on the palms of their hands with an implement such as a rattan cane, wooden paddle, slipper, leather strap, belt, or wooden yardstick. Less commonly, it could also include spanking or smacking the student with an open hand, especially at the kindergarten, primary school, or other more junior levels.
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, paddle, whip, or hanger. On a looser definition, it can also include shaking, pinching, forced ingestion of substances, or forcing children to stay in uncomfortable positions.
Campaigns against corporal punishment aim to reduce or eliminate corporal punishment of minors by instigating legal and cultural changes in the areas where such punishments are practiced. Such campaigns date mostly from the late 20th century, although occasional voices in opposition to corporal punishment existed from ancient times through to the modern era.
Domestic discipline most commonly refers to as the practice of fully consensual corporal discipline between two competent adult partners in a relationship, but also may refer to:
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.
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 and seven of the 20 G20 member states have banned the use of corporal punishment against children.
Elizabeth Thompson Gershoff is Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. She is known for her research on the impact of corporal punishment in the home and at school on children and their mental health.
George Walker Holden is professor emeritus and a developmental psychologist who worked at the Southern Methodist University, 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.
Alan M. Emond is a British paediatrician and professor emeritus in Child Health at Bristol Medical School at the University of Bristol. Emond is most notable for research into child and adolescent injury, epidemiology and health service evaluation as well as the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Figure 1. Corporal Punishment Begins With Infants, Is Highest For Toddlers, And Continues Into The Teen Years For Many Children