To Spank or not to Spank? That isn't the Question.

The University of Texas recently published a study in the Journal of Family Psychology that concluded spanking not only doesn't accomplish long or short term behavioral goals, but it’s also associated with detrimental outcomes for spanked kids as adults.

Actually, the study “confirmed” that spanking was detrimental as it had no immediate positive results and led to antisocial, aggressive behaviors as well as a high likelihood of mental health problems in later life.

To be clear, when speaking in defense of spanking I am referring to corporal punishment delivered by a parent to their own child in the form of an open handed strike to the behind. I’m not talking about beatings, whippings, and all sorts of other physical abuse that some like to lump together.

Also, I don’t give any credibility to the part of the study where schools were administering the spankings. There are certainly wrong ways to spank and I feel confident saying if there was a wrong way to do it American public schools were masters at codifying that method.

Aside from concerns about the methodology of the five decade meta-data analysis, there is a problem with the assumptions regarding how outcomes were assessed. Participants assessed later on in life that demonstrated negative behaviors were quickly placed in the column of proof of spanking’s ineffectiveness -- which ignores the fact that they may have been “behaviorally challenged” from the get go. Perhaps they were spanked, just not enough.

The study also appears to entirely overlook the fact that each child is different and can require different types and degrees of punishment to curb bad behavior. Or that just because a parent spanks their kid doesn’t mean they are doing so effectively. Arbitrary and inconsistent spanking hugely undermines the intended effect of spanking, but that certainly doesn’t make spanking itself the demon academia appears to agree it must be.

I guess one of my main beefs with this whole study is with the academic types behind it. These are the same people who think parents need to earn their kids’ respect. The cart is so far in front of the horse in that scenario, the horse might as well be running wild. And be a jackass.

The inherent authority vested in those in the God-given role of parent requires respect. Sometimes the behavior goals associated with that authority are enforced by spanking. The folks who conduct these studies, and think the two previous sentences are foolishness, certainly aren't approaching these studies on spanking in an unbiased manner.

Perhaps me writing this column further proves that being spanked as a child does lead to such antisocial behaviors as disagreeing with psychologists and professors at universities known for their elasticity of thought.

However, in a society where telling someone you're wrong is considered abusive, where post-modernity allows for whatever is right “for you” to be true, and where parental disrespect and undermining runs rampant, the last thing we need is less spanking.