The case against physical punishment
Abstract
We review the literature on parental physical punishment of children, laying out foundations of a case against physical punishment as a form of discipline. We consider the research on physical punishment finding that physical punishment is associated with a number of undesirable outcomes for children and adolescents. We pay special attention to questions of: parent effects versus child effects; whether parental use of physical punishment is moderated by family, neighborhood, or cultural context, and whether physical punishment can be considered to be part of a continuum of family violence. We close with recommendations for positive parenting policies and practices.
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A wealth of literature has delineated the long-term negative consequences of corporal punishment, such as spanking, hitting, and pinching children.
“A wealth of literature has delineated the long-term negative consequences of corporal punishment, such as spanking, hitting, and pinching children (Fergusson et al., 2008; Grogan-Kaylor et al., 2018).”
From The evolved nest, oxytocin functioning, and prosocial development (2023) · cites this paper as Grogan-Kaylor et al. (2018)
Cites
Gershoff, E. T. (2002) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.128.4.539 · Cited by 2,165 · see citing works
Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses.
Gershoff, E. T., & Grogan-Kaylor, A. (2016) · Journal of Family Psychology · doi:10.1037/fam0000191 · Cited by 931 · cited 3× · see citing works
“4 research, found that parents’ use of spanking was associated with increases in undesirable outcomes such as aggression and child mental health problems [2].”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationAfifi, T. O., Ford, D., Gershoff, E. T., Merrick, M., Grogan-Kaylor, A., Ports, K. A., MacMillan, H. L., Holden, G. W., Taylor, C. A., Lee, S. J., et al. (2017) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.01.014 · Cited by 246 · see citing works
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The evolved nest, oxytocin functioning, and prosocial development
Tarsha, M. S., & Narvaez, D. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1113944 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
- Authors
- Grogan-Kaylor, A., Ma, J., & Graham-Bermann, S. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan–Flint (US)
- ORCID
- Ma, Julie
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-02
- Volume
- 19
- Pages
- 22-27
- ISSN
- 2352-250X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2605274365
- Cited by
- 43
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 0.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Health › Intimate Partner and Family Violence
- Keywords
- corporal punishment, child discipline, parenting, child outcomes, adolescent outcomes, parental effects, child effects, family environment, neighborhood context, cultural context, positive parenting, parenting policy
- MeSH terms
- Child, Child Rearing, Humans, Parent-Child Relations, Punishment, Parenting, Domestic Violence
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