Perception of Child Abuse 2COLLEGE STUDENTS’ AND PROFESSIO.docx
Au Psy492 M7 A2 Peters S
1. Corporal Punishment and Child Outcomes M4:A2- Review Paper- Paper & Peer Review Shannae C. Peters Argosy University, Seattle
2. Abstract This presentation outlines the keypoints of the referenced research paper on corporal punishment and aggressive behavior. I outlined a research study and reflected on articles I found on that area of research to obtain a conclusion on the topic.
3. Introduction How does corporal punishment effect child outcomes in relation to aggressive behavior issues? Hypothesis Null Hypothesis
5. Results: Negative Findings Article:“The Moderating Effect of Parental Warmth on the Association between Spanking and Child Aggression: a Longitudinal Approach” (Stacks, 2009) Method Results
6. Negative Findings Cont. Article:“Spanking Children: Evidence and Issues” (Kazdin, 2003) Reviewed the effects of spanking on child behavior while comparing the positive and negative aspects of this type of punishment. Method Results
7. Negative Findings Cont. Article: “Correlates and Consequences of Spanking and Verbal Punishment for Low-income White, African American, and Mexican American Toddlers” (Berlin et al, 2009) Method Results
8. Positive and Alternative Findings Article: “Non-abusive Physical Punishment and Child Behavior among African-American Children: A Systematic Review” (Horn, 2004) Method Results
9. Positive and Alternative Findings Cont. “Maternal Sensitivity Moderates the Relation between Negative Discipline and Aggression in Early Childhood” (Alink, 2008) Question: “in what way are maternal sensitivity and discipline prospectively related to child aggression in one- to three-year-old children?” (Alink, 2008, pg. 102). Method Results
10. Positive and Alternate Findings Cont. “A blanket injunction against disciplinary use of spanking is not warranted” (Baumrind, 1996) Method Results
12. Summary Inconclusive results Study show positive and negatives of spanking. No evidence that spanking causes aggression
13. Conclusion Corporal punishment can be used as a physical form of behavior conditioning Abuse, neglect, or mistreatment is not what spanking or corporal punishment is about.
14. Future Research Does corporal punishment have more positive or negative effects on children and their behavioral development? This would help to avoid the inconclusive cycle of data. Data should be collected in families of all economic statuses.
15. References Alink, Lenneke R. A. (2008). Maternal sensitivity moderates the relation between negative discipline and aggression in early childhood. Centre for child and family studies. 99-120. Retrieved from- doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2008.00478.x Argosy University. (2011). Research Methods: Module 3. Retrieved from- http://myeclassonline.com Baumrind, Diana. (1996). A blanket injunction against disciplinary use of spanking is not warranted. Pediatrics. 98 (4), 828-831. Retrieved from- Ebscohost database. Berlin, Lisa J.; Bia, Y.; Fine, M. A.; Brooks-Gunn, J.; Ispa, J.M.; Malone, P.S.; Brady-Smith, Christy. (2009). Correlates and consequences of spanking and verbal. Child development. 80(5), 1403-1420. Retrieved from- Ebscohost database Colvard, Karen. (1996). Spanking and triage. Pediatrics. 98(4), 807-808. Retrieved from- Ebscohost database Horn, Ivor B. (2004). Non-abusive physical punishment and child behavior among african-american children: A Systematic Review- Journal of the National Medical Association, Vol. 96(9). Retrieved on May 27, 2011 from- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2568462/pdf/jnma00178-0030.pdf Kazdin, Alan E. (2003). Spanking children: evidence and issues. American Psychological Society. 12(3). 99-103. Retrieved from- Ebscohost database Stacks, Ann M. (2009). The moderating effect of parental warmth on the association between spanking and child aggression: a longitudinal approach. Child Development. Retrieved from- Ebscohostdatabase
Notas do Editor
The purpose of researching this topic was to promote awareness of the immediate and long-term effects of corporal punishment on child outcomes in reference to aggressive behavior.
*My hypothesis is: corporal punishment has a negative effect on child outcomes, causing aggressive behavior and behavioral issues.*The null hypothesis is: corporal punishment has no significant evidence of effects on child outcomes in relation to aggressive behavioral issues.
To gather my data I searched for the following keywords in the Argosy eLibrary: Corporal Punishment, Aggression, and Behavioral Issues. I then proof read each article with a title that referenced one of the keywords I searched for and eliminated the irrelevant research.After finding a reasonable amount of relevant research articles I sorted through the results of each study and divided the articles in to pros and cons of corporal punishment to help the process of analyzing and coming up with a final conclusion.
*This study used 2792 randomly assigned particpants (Mother and child) that lived under the federal poverty line. The children were assessed at ages 14, 24, and 36 months for aggressive behavior due to spanking.*The results of the study only proved that aggression was a direct result of spanking immediately after spanking occurred. It did not, however, prove that spanking caused any long-term display of aggression in that same child. When the results were run separately by race, this study found that spanking was only predictive of aggressive behavior in Caucasian families, but did not explain why or how this is so.
*This article reviewed the findings of Gershoff, a researcher that found that spanking resulted in immediate obedience. This was the only positive finding of spanking and after reviewing Gershoff’s research, the results showed that violence begits violence and therefore, spanking leads to violent and aggressive behavior.
*For this study there were 2573 children and their caregivers who lived at or below the federal state poverty line. These participants were pulled from the Early Head Start National Research and Evaluation Project. *The results of this study showed that : “…Spanking at age 1 predicted child aggressive behavior problems at age 2 and lower Bayley scores at age 3,” (Berlin et al, 2009, pg. 1412). However, “spanking at age 1 or age 2 did not predict child aggressive behavior problems at age 3 or Bayley scores at age 2,” (Berlin et al, 2009, pg. 1412). Therefore, these findings contradict one another. For aggressiveness to be found at age 2, but not at age three, shows that aggressiveness that came and went within a year could have come from a source that also dissipated within that year. Therefore, this would not be a direct result of spanking.
*Much like our review paper, this study reviewed articles on physical punishment from PubMed and Psychinfo from 1970-2000. The keywords that were searched were corporal punishment, physical punishment, disciplinary practices, parenting, and discipline. They chose articles that were of english language, peer-reviewed, non-abusive discipline, population of the U.S., Majority African-American, and children ages 0-14.*Of the thousands of articles reviewed, only five articles met all the criteria. Of these articles, the impact of non-abusive physical punishment on the behavioral outcomes of African American children remains inconclusive, (Horn, 2004, pg. 1163).Unlike the previous articles by Stack and Kazdin, this article much like Berlin’s article, displays inconclusive results and does not clearly or definitely prove that corporal punishment has a direct result of aggression.
*117 mothers and their children were used for this study. Two 1 ½ hr sessions were conducted where aggression, maternal sensitivity, and maternal discipline were observed. *Results revealed that maternal sensitivity moderated the relation between maternal negative discipline and child aggression. When mothers frequently used negative discipline strategies, their children were more likely to be aggressive one year later, but only in the group of less sensitive mothers, (Alink, 2008, pg. 113).Although these results do show that negative discipline will have negative outcomes, it is far too broad to conclude that spanking is indeed a negative disciplinary act. In many ways, it can be considered positive since it acts as a reinforcer of behavior. These findings seem to indicate that if the parent is sensitive, caring, and gives explanation for punishment, then physical punishment will not lead to aggression.
*This article was a short commentary of Dr. Larzelere’s review with the conclusion that a blanket injunction against disciplinary spanking by parents was not scientifically supportable. This conclusion was backed by seven propositions all attacking alternative views and explaining why the research cannot be proved without a doubt.
*This article was a review of Dr. Chamberlin’s argument that spanking was only a bit player in the complex interplay of risks that threaten the future development of a child. The main rebuttle was that many other factors lead to aggression like environment, social status, economic status, life experiences, and exposure to violence, music, media, etc
*Research gathered about the affects of corporal punishment (spanking) on child behavior in relation to aggression is inconclusive. Studies show signs of positive child outcomes as well as negative child outcomes depending on the environment and upbringing of the child and parent. It is not specifically proven that spanking alone directly leads to issues with disobedience or aggression of any sort.
*Althoughthe research is inconclusive, I believe that corporal punishment is not morally wrong, nor does it directly lead to aggression issues in children as long as the parents treat this form of punishment with understanding and sensitivity. I believe that corporal punishment is a physical form of conditioning because one uses negative and positive reinforcements to condition a child to avoid certain behavior and continue to act on others. As long as this is done correctly without crossing the boundary of abuse, neglect, or mistreatment, I believe corporal punishment could be a key factor in many parenting styles.
*In order to further develop this area of study a research question I could ask would be, “Does corporal punishment have more positive or negative effects on children and their behavioral development?” This would help my research extremely due to the fact that the research found thus far has been inconclusive. This research question is very important and relevant to the current work being done on this topic because in order to truly make a conclusion on whether corporal punishment is harmful to children, one must analyze all the research results gathered throughout the years and decide whether there are more pros or cons to this form of punishment. This is because we already know that in some ethnicities, upbringings, and family settings this form of punishment is very beneficial and in others, it can be very harmful to the development of a child. I believe that more research should be done here as well and that it needs to be researched in what type of family settings does corporal punishment work and is it worth practicing or not. This way, a standard can be expressed to the public to give a clear analysis of corporal punishment, the right way to use it (if any) and the background behind these findings.*Collecting the data of every economic status will allow for better analysis of corporal punishment, rather than focusing on the already stressed population (those who are poverty stricken).