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Cited by 2,165Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentChild Abuse and TraumaEducation Discipline and Inequality

Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: A meta-analytic and theoretical review

Gershoff, Elizabeth Thompson·2002·Psychological Bulletin
DOI 10.1037/0033-2909.128.4.539
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Abstract

Although the merits of parents using corporal punishment to discipline children have been argued for decades, a thorough understanding of whether and how corporal punishment affects children has not been reached. Toward this end, the author first presents the results of meta-analyses of the association between parental corporal punishment and 11 child behaviors and experiences. Parental corporal punishment was associated with all child constructs, including higher levels of immediate compliance and aggression and lower levels of moral internalization and mental health. The author then presents a process-context model to explain how parental corporal punishment might cause particular child outcomes and considers alternative explanations. The article concludes by identifying 7 major remaining issues for future research.

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Crossref · 10.1037/0033-2909.128.4.539

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  • The four earlier meta-analyses of physical punishment used different article sets and reached inconsistent conclusions: Gershoff (2002) found it largely ineffective and harmful, Larzelere and Kuhn (2005) found it effective under some circumstances, and Ferguson (2013) and Paolucci and Violato (2004) found only modest links to cognitive, emotional, and behavioral problems.

    “Each of these four meta-analyses included a different set of articles and came to varied conclusions, namely that physical punishment is largely ineffective and harmful (Gershoff, 2002), that physical punishment is effective under certain circumstances (Larzelere & Kuhn, 2005), and that physical punishment is linked with children’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral problems but only modestly (F”

    From Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses. (2016) · cites this paper as Gershoff, 2002

  • Across the earlier meta-analyses, physical punishment was associated with negative child outcomes, especially when outcomes were analyzed in finer-grained categories rather than broad ones.

    “Taken together, these meta-analyses provide evidence that physical punishment is associated with negative child outcomes, particularly when the outcomes are divided into finer-grained categories (Ferguson, 2013; Gershoff, 2002) rather than when they are grouped into broad categories (Paolucci & Violato, 2004), and that harsher methods of physical punishment are more strongly associated with”

    From Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses. (2016) · cites this paper as Gershoff, 2002

  • The finding that spanking was not linked with immediate defiance was unexpected given the opposite findings in Gershoff (2002).

    “The finding that spanking was not linked with immediate defiance was unexpected given the opposite findings in the Gershoff (2002) meta-analyses.”

    From Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses. (2016) · cites this paper as Gershoff (2002)

  • The mean effect size across all studies, d = .33, was smaller than Gershoff's (2002) overall mean effect size, d = .40, but still statistically significant.

    “The mean effect size across all studies, d = .33, was smaller than the overall mean effect size reported by Gershoff (2002), d = .40, but still statistically significant.”

    From Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses. (2016) · cites this paper as Gershoff (2002)

  • Physical punishment has been linked to negative effects in children, including poor child mental health outcomes and aggression.

    “PP has been linked to many negative effects (e.g., poor child mental health outcomes, aggression; Afifi, Mota, Sareen, & MacMillan, 2017;Gershoff, 2002;Sege, Siegel, COUNCIL”

    From Child abuse-related homicides precipitated by caregiver use of harsh physical punishment (2023) · cites this paper as Gershoff, 2002

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Authors
Gershoff, E. T.
Affiliations
Columbia University (US)
Corresponding author
Gershoff, Elizabeth Thompson
ORCID
Gershoff, Elizabeth Thompson
Venue
Psychological Bulletin
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2002
Volume
128
Issue
4
Pages
539-579
ISSN
  • 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1455
DOI
10.1037/0033-2909.128.4.539
OpenAlex
W2139885671
Cited by
2,165
References
523
Citations by year
2026: 61 · 2025: 73 · 2024: 68 · 2023: 84 · 2022: 90 · 2021: 106 · 2020: 140 · 2019: 118 · 2018: 131 · 2017: 111 · 2016: 123 · 2015: 137 · 2014: 152 · 2013: 127 · 2012: 119
FWCI
44.62
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Arizona State University
  • National Institute of Mental Health
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Education › Education Discipline and Inequality
Keywords
corporal punishment, parental discipline, child behavior, child compliance, child aggression, moral internalization, child mental health, child outcomes
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Child, Child Abuse, Child Behavior, Child, Preschool, Humans, Infant, Internal-External Control, Parent-Child Relations, Personality Development, Punishment, Socialization

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