Two dialogues on the topic of beating.
The first is in the clinic. A long queue. Mothers are nervous, children also begin to wind up. One girl can not sit still. He begins to take off his warm pants and walk around in half-down pants. Naughty, pulling mom. Mom scolds her. Another mother enters (like she wants to help):
Another mother: — But today I’ll take you to me. Will you come to me?
Girl: Do you have any toys?
Another mother: — I don’t have toys, but I have a belt. Wow like this!
Girl: So what?
The girl’s mother (very timidly): — She doesn’t know what a belt is.
Another mother (with condemnation): — That’s bad!
The second is on the bus. Two older women tell each other about their grandchildren.
First: — I have a granddaughter — gold. Angel, not a child. I don’t even know why you can scold her!
Second: — So do not scold.
First: — Yes, I do not scold. Her mother scolds her. And scolds and spanks. And I tell her: did they spank you or something? Just for once?
Second: — Children from this only become embittered.
First: Yes, yes. They get embittered.
The negative long-term effects of physical punishment are a very controversial issue. On the one hand, experiments in the field of social psychology show the insignificance of the long-term consequences of sexual or physical abuse experienced in childhood, as well as the extremely insignificant influence of the family situation during childhood on the behavior and life of an adult, etc. (See Ross L., Nisbet R. Man and situation: lessons of social psychology, Moscow, 1999). At the same time, other researchers argue that children who are subjected to physical punishment have a large number of emotional and behavioral problems, especially those associated with aggression, depression and violence towards others. (See RRSears, ECMaccoby. H.Levin, 1957; W.Becker et al, 1962; S.Coopersmith, 1967; R.Gellers, 1974; J.Bryan, f.Freed, 1982; R.Larzerele, 1986; R.L.Caesar, 1988; LDEron, RLHuesman, A.Zelli, 1991; MAStraus, 1994; RHDuRant et al, 1995)
However, the work of researchers in this direction is subject to criticism, and, it seems, quite justified. How are such studies carried out? A group of people with deviant behavior is taken (most often a group of prisoners) and a survey is conducted: were you subjected to physical punishment as a child. And the majority of the respondents answered: yes, they did. The fact that this very majority comes from dysfunctional families is unambiguous, but this fact is ignored. Because researchers are concerned only with the issue of physical punishment. The fact that socially and materially prosperous society indulges in “progressive” methods of education is also understandable. That is, the group under study also comes from financially unsecured families (there are also a majority of such families in prisons, even in Western ones). This fact is also ignored.
Previously, “Soviet scientists” liked to catch Western colleagues on such “dirty” methodologies (for purely ideological reasons), now there is no one.
The control group most often does not exist at all, or it does not match the experimental parameters so much that it is simply ridiculous. For example, a group of people convicted of violent acts in a prison, and a group of college students are being interviewed. And then, HERE ON SUCH MATERIAL, conclusions are drawn about the effect of physical punishment on aggressiveness. It’s like testing the truth of the omen that a black cat brings bad luck — on mice.
Physical punishment is an attribute of life in dysfunctional families. There is essentially no education there, hence all the problems. Another thing is when they resort to physical punishment not out of stupidity, but rather thoughtfully. Clarity here can be brought by studies when they do not interfere with everything in a heap, but separate cases of stupid and well-thought-out punishments. Hypothesis: if we establish a relationship between the harmful effects of physical punishment and the pedagogical level of parents, then there will be a strong correlation, and with a sufficient pedagogical level of parents, the harm from physical punishment will be zero. Discussion on Synthon’s forum…
In summary: sometime spanking children in a case is possible, but beating children is a completely different matter.
Reasonable physical punishments prevent highly deviant behavior in children during adolescence. Usually, parents who «fundamentally» do not use punishments, when the child reaches the age of 11-15, become unable to «manage» the child and begin to apply SUCH punishments that are not possible in principle in a normal family that lived «with punishments», but at the specified age reduced to comments.