(Photo: Talbert Johnson)
Who, as a child, hasn’t received at least one spanking when they misbehaved? While receiving the occasional spanking isn’t necessarily harmful, a recent study has shown corporal punishment, when abused, can lower a child’s IQ and affect individuals even in their university years.
Murray Straus of the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H. conducted a study of the effects of spanking on intelligence. The IQ of 1,510 children aged two to four and five to nine was tested initially and again four years later. The results showed that children who had been spanked, on average had lower IQs than those who hadn’t been spanked, and were less likely to graduate from university.
“It is like smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer and other smoking-related illnesses,” Straus said. “About a third of heavy smokers die of it, which means that two thirds do not. Similarly, spanking increases the probability of things like not graduating from college, but, like most smokers [will] live, most will graduate.”
As well as lowering IQ, spanking can be detrimental to a child’s mental health and development, the study shows.
From a young age, children who are spanked develop high levels of stress due to the near-constant fear of disappointing, the study indicates.
Other non-physical forms of punishment could be more effective and provide children with a valuable learning experience, Straus said. Children could be made to understand what they did wrong without the trauma of getting hit every time they misbehaved, he said.
Some university students have different views on spanking.
Bradley Wilkinson, a student at Wilfrid Laurier University, said he believes that while spanking can be harmful, it can have positive effects.
“It’s like Pavlov’s dogs – [one thing is associated with another], spanking means you did something wrong,” he said.
Miles Bason, a Brock University student, said she believes parents should stay away from spanking.
“Spanking is a bad idea, period,” she said. “Negative feedback, in a non-physical way, is more effective.”
But what does this mean when children become young adults and university students?
Having received corporal punishment can result in the individual having trouble with juvenile delinquency or having to deal with high levels of stress, Straus’ study shows. Being afraid of disappointing and being punished for it could cause high levels of stress, it says.
Once children who have been spanked reach their university years, some of them have to deal with insecurity and issues of self-confidence, the study says. Some may find themselves having difficulties and facing the prospect of not graduating, it says, but, like many other problems, there are harmful side effects but these effects are not definite.
