Is spanking essential?

Spanking is a type of corporal punishment involving the act of striking the buttocks of another person to cause temporary pain.^[1] It generally involves one person striking the buttocks of another person with an open hand. When an open hand is used, spanking is referred to in some countries as slapping or smacking. More severe forms of spanking, such as switching, paddling, belting, caning, whipping, and birching, involve the use of an implement instead of a hand. Corporal punishment is most commonly used to discipline a child or teenager. It generally involves an adult – typically a parent, guardian, or teacher – striking the child's buttocks as punishment for unacceptable behavior. Historically, boys have tended to be more frequently spanked than girls.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Some countries have outlawed the spanking of children in every setting, but many allow it at least when administered by a parent or guardian. For the legal status of corporal punishment in different countries, see corporal punishment in the homeand school corporal punishment.

In some cultures, the spanking of a wife by her husband is considered an acceptable form of domestic discipline, though the practice is far less common than it used to be.^[7] In other contexts, the spanking of an adult can be considered a playful gesture during a social ritual or as a form of entertainment.

In many cultures, parents have historically been regarded as having the duty of disciplining their children, and the right to spank them when appropriate; however, attitudes in many countries changed in the 1950s and 60s following the publication by pediatricianDr. Spock of Baby and Child Care in 1946, which advised parents to treat children as individuals, whereas the previous conventional wisdom had been that child rearing should focus on building discipline, and that, e.g., babies should not be "spoiled" by picking them up when they cried. The change in attitude was followed by legislation. Sweden was the first to abolish corporal punishment of children in the family in 1979.^[8] As of January 2015, a total of forty‑six countries, including 28 in Europe, had outlawed corporal punishment of children in all contexts, including in the home.^[9] In many other places the practice is considered controversial.

Numerous human rights organizations have decried any use of corporal punishment on children, asserting that corporal punishment is a violation of children's human rights.^[10][11][12] 

In many countries in Africa and the Middle East, and in most parts of Eastern Asia (including China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea), corporal punishment of one's own children is lawful.^[13] In Singapore and Hong Kong, punishing one's own child with corporal punishment is legal but not particularly encouraged.^[14] Culturally, many people in the region believe a certain amount of corporal punishment for their own children is appropriate and necessary, and thus such practice is accepted by society as a whole.

Lay opinions are divided on whether spanking is helpful or harmful to a child's behavior. Public attitudes towards the acceptability and effectiveness of spanking vary a great deal by nation and region. For example in the United States and United Kingdom, social acceptance of spanking children maintains a majority position, from approximately 61% to 80%.^[15][16] In Sweden, before the 1979 ban, more than half of the population considered corporal punishment a necessary part of child rearing. By 1996 the rate was 11%,^[17] and less than 34% considered it acceptable in a national survey.^[18]

On the other hand, many professional and child welfare organizations oppose it. The American Academy of Pediatrics has disavowed the practice of spanking, citing ineffectiveness, the chance of injury, and the likelihood that physical punishment will escalate into physical abuse.^[19]

`        In one 2006 study, children whose parents spanked them commonly reported feelings of fear, anger, and sadness as a result.^[20]  Young children aged between five and seven in a UK study said of being spanked by their parents, "it feels like someone banged you with a hammer" and "it hurts and it’s painful inside – it’s like breaking your bones".^[21] 

Dr. Elizabeth T. Gershoff, a "leading researcher" on spanking according to the American Psychological Association as well as CNN,^[10][22] found in 2013 that spanking children did not achieve parents' aims of either short‑term or long‑term compliance, based on numerous prior studies. She calls spanking a form of "violence" that should be stopped.^[23]  According to Dr. Gershoff, the belief that spanking increased immediate compliance was "overly influenced by one study".^[22] Dr. Joan Durrant and Ron Ensom with theUniversity of Manitoba and Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, respectively, reached a similar conclusion in a systematic review of two decades of spanking research, finding that spanking increased children's aggression over time and was not effective in promoting desired behaviors.^[24]

A longitudinal study by Tulane University in 2010 found a 50% greater risk of aggressive behavior two years later in young children who were spanked more than twice in the month before the study began.^[25] The study controlled for a wide variety of confounding variables, including initial levels of aggression in the children. According to the study's leader, Catherine Taylor, this suggests that "it's not just that children who are more aggressive are more likely to be spanked."^[26]

A 2008 study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill showed that mothers who spanked their children were also more likely to abuse them by "beating, burning, kicking, hitting with an object somewhere other than the buttocks, or shaking a child less than 2 years old", according to the researchers.^[27] In Dr. Gershoff's words, "The link between spanking and physical abuse is the most disturbing of these unintended effects, but it should not be a surprising one; both parental acts involve hitting, and purposefully hurting, children. ... [M]ost documented cases of physical abuse begin with parents physically punishing their children for a perceived misdeed".^[23] The study authors believed that media, educational, and legislative efforts to reduce spanking may reduce the incidence of physical child abuse.^[27]

Some scientists have claimed that "non‑abusive" spanking is not harmful.^[10]  Dr. Durrant, on the other hand, argues that "over 100" studies have shown that spanking can be harmful to children. She asserts that spanking inhibits children's cognitive development and predicts various mental illnesses in adulthood. Dr. Durrant maintains that no study has demonstrated any long‑term benefit to spanking.^[28] Dr. Alan Kazdin, psychology professor at Yale University and former president of the American Psychological Association, echoed Dr. Durrant's assertion in 2012, saying, "There is no need for corporal punishment based on the research. We are not giving up an effective technique. We are saying this is a horrible thing that does not work".^[10]

The authors of a 2009 study found reduced gray matter in areas of the brain related to self‑control, depression, and addiction in young adults^[29] who had been regularly spanked as children.^[22] Murray A. Straus, regarded as the "foremost researcher" on child corporal punishment according to Science Daily, has also reported damage to cognitive development and subsequent lower academic performance in children who were spanked.^[30]

Straus also published a study in 2013 which found that children across numerous cultures who were spanked committed more crimes as adults than children who were not spanked. He noted, "So many parents and child psychologists believe that if spanking is done by loving and helpful parents, it has no harmful effect...This study and only one other study I know of that empirically investigated this belief found that it is not true. Spanking seems to be associated with an increased probability of subsequent child behavior problems regardless of culture and, regardless of whether it [is] done by loving and helpful parents".^[31]

A few researchers have been critical of the methodology used in many of the studies on spanking, as well as their authors' conclusions.^[32] But even these scientists contend that spanking beyond a specific set of criteria (children age 2–6, no objects, in private, less than once per week) is still harmful.^[32] A 2013 meta‑analysis by Dr. Chris Ferguson employed an alternative statistical analysis that still showed negative outcomes in children subjected to spanking and corporal punishment, but found the overall relationship to be "trivial" or nearly so. However, Ferguson acknowledged this still indicates harmful outcomes and noted some limitations of his analysis, stating "On the other hand, there was no evidence from the current meta-analysis to indicate that spanking or CP held any particular advantages. There appears, from the current data, to be no reason to believe that spanking/CP holds any benefits related to the current outcomes, in comparison to other forms of discipline."^[33]

There is an ongoing debate on whether or not the sexual deviation "spanking fetishism" is caused by spankings received or witnessed in childhood (or puberty age). A study by Murray Straus found a positive correlation with childhood spanking and adult interest in masochistic sexual practices, but also found that up to 40% of adults with such interests had no history of childhood spanking. This suggests that while spanking may contribute, there are other significant variables involved.^[34]

In schools]

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. These bans have been controversial, and in many cultures opinion remains sharply divided as to the efficacy or suitability of spanking as a punishment for misbehaviour by school students.

Formal caning, notably for teenage boys, remains a common form of discipline in schools in several Asian and African countries, especially those with a British heritage; in these cultures it is referred to as "caning" and not "spanking".

In the United States, the Supreme Court in 1977 held that the paddling of school students was not per se unlawful.^[35] However, 31 states have now banned paddling in public schools. It is still common in some schools in the South.

In some cultures, the spanking of women, by the male head of the family or by the husband (sometimes called domestic discipline) has been – and sometimes continues to be – a common and approved custom. In those cultures and in those times it was the belief that the husband, as head of the family, had a right and even the duty to discipline his wife and children when he saw fit, and manuals were available to instruct the husband how to discipline his household. In most western countries, this practice has come to be regarded as socially unacceptable wife-beating, domestic violence or abuse. Routine corporal punishment of women by their husbands, however, does still exist in some parts of the developing world,^[36][37][38] and still occurs in isolated cases in western countries.

Today, spanking of an adult tends to be confined to erotic spanking between people engaging in other intimate activities, such as foreplay or sexual roleplay.

Adult spanking, or the threat of being spanked, has appeared in numerous films and TV series. In most cases, it is a man spanking or threatening to spank a woman. Some examples include: