Spanking children can cause depression and mental disorders

At the time of our parents and grandparents, the saying was still common, “Spanking on time makes a good child.” But it has been shown that physical punishment is inefficient and could cause short and long-term harm to our children, such as depression, mental disorders, even alcoholism, and eating disorders.

A study from the University of Michigan, led by Tracie Afifia and Derek Ford, indicates that the use of spanking, pinching, pulling, smacking, and other “corrective methods” that involve physical and psychological violence increase the risk that these children will be depressed adults and even attempt suicide.

The research entitled Spanking and adult mental health impairment was carried out with data from 8,300 adults between 19 and 97 years old. The survey answered questions about their negative experiences during childhood and the physical and mental problems they present as adults.

About 55% of the participants said they had been hit during childhood. It was precisely this group that presented the greatest probability of falling into depression and mental disorders.

The authors point out that aggression as a way of educating children should be considered physical and emotional abuse. It generates trauma, affects the development of children, and interferes with the way they deal with problems as adults.

Parents should not spank their children

Afifia and Ford define spanking as the use of physical force with an open hand intended to cause the child to experience pain. Still, no serious injury to correct or control his behavior.

In its Guide to Effective Discipline, the American Academy of Pediatrics indicates that spanking and other corporal punishment get a child’s attention. Still, it is not an adequate strategy to teach the difference between right and wrong. On the contrary, it makes children more likely to be uncompromising and aggressive in the future.

According to psychologist Tina Payne Bryson, author of the books The Child’s Brain and Discipline Without Tears, physical punishment is counterproductive. During the World Parenting Forum 2021, the expert indicated,

“When we use physical punishment as a parenting method, we produce fear, and children enter a state of alert and threat. This control instrument is counterproductive because it increases stress, and children are less likely to correct that behavior. For a child to be able to learn, he must feel safe and be in a receptive state”.

But that’s not all. In other research papers, such as the one by researchers Akemi Tomoda and Hanako Suzuki, children who suffered repeated exposure to corporal punishment have a reduction in the gray matter of the brain, which triggers a reduction in the gray matter of the brain a lower performance IQ and affects their social cognition.

Let’s eradicate the use of physical punishment

More and more countries have prohibited corporal punishment as a method of upbringing in their legislation. In Mexico, since September 2020, a reform was achieved that recognizes the right of children to live in peace, without aggression.

“This occurs in the field of family and civil law. Children and adolescents have the right to receive an education. Still, it is forbidden for the mother, father, or any person exercising parental authority to use corporal or humiliating punishment as a form of discipline”, declared former senator Martí Batres, who presented the bill.

Corporal punishment is defined as any act against children and adolescents. Physical force is used, such as pinching, pushing, hitting with the hand, burning, or any other action that causes pain.

For generations, it has been thought that No pain, no gain or Learn weeping and thou shalt gain laughing (la letra con sangre entra), but it is time to use other strategies.

“Many people associate discipline with punishment. I propose that we return to the essence of discipline, to its origin, to the disciples of Jesus who learned from their teacher. Discipline is always about teaching so children can improve over time. If you change the idea of discipline into the opportunity to teach, it will transform their upbringing”, concludes Tina Payne Bryson.

Translated by: Ligia M. Oliver Manrique de Lara

Spanish version

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