It is clear that our society has come to "agree" that physical punishment teaches violence, but I am not convinced that there is actually any evidence to support this view when physical discipline is used in a non-abusive, age-appropriate, way in the context of a healthy family system.
The evidence I have mostly seen to support this view is extrapolated from studies such as the one referred to in this post. The title of the article explains that this is a study to measure the levels of aggression in sons of alcoholics as measured across three generations with evidence of alcoholism and aggression, and is therefore not necessarily a reliable indicator of how reasonable physical correction impacts the psyche of a child living in a stable and supportive environment.
From what I can tell, taking a historical look at aggression in the USA, at least, corporal punishment used to be "the rule" as our puritanical roots admonished us not to "spare the rod" in case we will "spoil the child," the switch from physical to "other" types of discipline has not made our society less violent and in many cases may have contributed to an increase in violence.
Perhaps the most easily recognizable group with increased incidents of violence is the growing trend of aggressively violent teenage girls. It would be just as questionable to blame the rise of female violence on a lack of corporal punishment as it is to blame corporal punishment for aggressive behavior-- in both cases we are dealing with complex systems of cognition and socialization that are not easily reduced to one such factor.
IMO increases in aggression and violence among young children are multidimensionally caused; increased permissiveness, unclear boundaries for self and others, violent media exposure from young ages, insufficient parenting, attempts to instill unbased "self-esteem" and overly protect children from the natural consequences of their actions, and countless other factors that could play a part in increasing aggression.
On the whole, though, it seems to me that our society has become very much more aggressive during the period since we began to advocate against physical correction. Of course correlation does not equal causation and I would guess that our culture's increasingly relaxed standards of civility and socially acceptable behavior is one of the big things to consider... much moreso, to me, than spankings from a self-controlled and nurturing parent.
Merged post follows:
Consecutive posts merged
It is clear that our society has come to "agree" that physical punishment teaches violence, but I am not convinced that there is actually any evidence to support this view when physical discipline is used in a non-abusive, age-appropriate, way in the context of a healthy family system.
The evidence I have mostly seen to support this view is extrapolated from studies such as the one referred to in this post. The title of the article explains that this is a study to measure the levels of aggression in sons of alcoholics as measured across three generations with evidence of alcoholism and aggression, and is therefore not necessarily a reliable indicator of how reasonable physical correction impacts the psyche of a child living in a stable and supportive environment.
From what I can tell, taking a historical look at aggression in the USA, at least, corporal punishment used to be "the rule" as our puritanical roots admonished us not to "spare the rod" in case we will "spoil the child," the switch from physical to "other" types of discipline has not made our society less violent and in many cases may have contributed to an increase in violence.
Perhaps the most easily recognizable group with increased incidents of violence is the growing trend of aggressively violent teenage girls. It would be just as questionable to blame the rise of female violence on a lack of corporal punishment as it is to blame corporal punishment for aggressive behavior-- in both cases we are dealing with complex systems of cognition and socialization that are not easily reduced to one such factor.
IMO increases in aggression and violence among young children are multidimensionally caused; increased permissiveness, unclear boundaries for self and others, violent media exposure from young ages, insufficient parenting, attempts to instill unbased "self-esteem" and overly protect children from the natural consequences of their actions, and countless other factors that could play a part in increasing aggression.
On the whole, though, it seems to me that our society has become very much more aggressive during the period since we began to advocate against physical correction. Of course correlation does not equal causation and I would guess that our culture's increasingly relaxed standards of civility and socially acceptable behavior is one of the big things to consider... much moreso, to me, than spankings from a self-controlled and nurturing parent.
