Corporal punishment on children – 999 Magazine

Dr. Kirin Hilliar: Assistant Professor of Psychology at Heriot-Watt University, Dubai Campus; and
Psychologist at LifeWorks Holistic Counselling Centre, Umm Suqeim, Dubai. You can contact her at
k.hilliar@hw.ac.uk or +971 4 435 8779.

1) What are the short-term and long-term fall-outs of corporal punishment on children?

Corporal punishment refers to the use of physical punishment (e.g. spanking) as a way to correct a child
or adolescent’s behaviour. Children can experience both short-term and long-term negative
consequences to corporal punishment. In the short-term, research suggests that children regularly
exposed to this type of discipline are more likely to difficulties such as anxiety, depression, sense of
unworthiness, poor impulse control, slower cognitive development, poor academic achievement, and
increased antisocial behaviour and aggression. This latter point is unsurprising, as the use of corporal
punishment on a child can reinforce the idea that violence and aggression is an effective way to cope
with stress or interpersonal conflict. According to attachment theory, the use of corporal punishment
can disrupt the development of a secure attachment to one’s primary caregivers, and an insecure
attachment is associated with a number of negative mental health outcomes for children. Moreover,
pain regularly inflicted by a caregiver has been found to increase cortisol (a stress hormone) in children’s
brains, and cause chemical disruptions of the brain’s mechanisms for regulating stress.

In the long-term, research has suggested a correlational link between exposure to corporal punishment
as a child, and outcomes relating to neurological, cognitive, emotional and social development, as well
as physical health. Common mental health consequences include depression, feelings of unhappiness
and hopelessness, anxiety, use of drugs and alcohol, and general psychological maladjustment. These
negative effects have been found to be consistently observed across countries, cultures, race and ethnic
groups, neighbourhoods of varying socio-economic status, and families with higher or lower levels of
emotional warmth.

2) Why do parents and teachers resort to hitting children?

Social learning theory (which argues that behaviours are learned through observation and learned
reinforcement) would suggest that for some parents and teachers, they use corporal punishment
because that is the type of discipline that they were exposed to as children. So, it’s all they know. For
others, they believe this form of discipline actually works (perhaps through their own personal
experience), despite the scientific evidence to the contrary. There is some evidence that the use of
spanking a child at age 1 amongst families in the US was associated with a 33% increase risk of that
family later being involved with Child Protective Services when the child was aged 1 to 5 years (Lee,
Grogan-Kaylor, & Berger, 2014). This suggests the use of corporal punishment can be an indicator of a
wider cycle of family violence.

3) What are the other ways of disciplining children instead of hitting them?

The UN Convention on the Rights of Child, since its implementation in 2006, has consistently urged for
the criminalization of any forms of physical punishment against children, and 52 countries legally
prohibit the use of corporal punishment, including in the home.
Just as we would not consider it appropriate to hit a colleague at work or a spouse at home, the rights of
children to live in a violence-free home and community needs to be at the forefront of society’s
considerations. Consequently, the concept of “positive parenting” (or “attachment parenting”) is gaining
research attention and professional endorsement. Here are some common tips that parents, caregivers,
and teachers can keep in mind:
- Be sure to communicate clear, consistent and developmentally-appropriate boundaries and
expectations of children’s behaviour.
- Teach children self-regulation and problem-solving skills, rather than aiming to immediately
eliminate the child’s misconduct. Talk with the child about why they chose to behave in that way
– for example, was it to relieve stress? Express frustration? Get your attention? And discuss with
them other, more appropriate methods they can use to attain these same goals.
- Teach children the consequences of misbehaviour, and enforce these consequences
consistently. For example, withholding privileges at a developmentally-appropriate level.

4) Do you have a case study (name changed) about a child/ adult who has suffered from corporal
punishment?

One client came to me because his methods for disciplining his child were becoming a point of conflict in
his marriage. He came from a family and a culture where corporal punishment was more common and
accepted, whereas his wife came from a family and culture where this was strongly frowned upon. His
wife thought their young son was growing fearful of his father, and that her husband’s techniques were
actually backfiring, making their son’s behaviour worse. He felt that he was trying his best, but making
both his son and his wife unhappy. We discussed how he was mirroring the disciplinary techniques used
by his own father when he was young, and discussed other, positive parenting strategies he could use
instead. We had to challenge some beliefs he had about his role as a father (e.g. that he was to be the
primary disciplinarian, that “my word is law”), as well as educate him on normal child developmental
trajectories so he could understand his son’s behaviour better. He reported that his relationships with
his son and wife improved markedly, and he also felt a lot calmer at home, now that he was not
perceiving his son’s behaviour so negatively, and he was using discipline techniques that were working.

Research studies:

Durrant, J., & Ensom, R. (2012). Physical punishment of children: Lessons from 20 years of research.
Canadian Medical Association Journal, 184(12), 1372-1377. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.101314.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3447048/pdf/1841373.pdf
Grogan-Kaylor, A., Ma, J., & Graham-Bermann, S. A. (2018). The case against physical punishment.
Current Opinion in Psychology, 19, 22-27. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.03.022.
Lee, S. J., Grogan-Kaylor, A., & Berger, L. M. (2014). Parental spanking of 1-year-old children and
subsequent child protective services involvement. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38(5), 875-883.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.01.018.