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New Study in Child Development, Vol. 80, Issue 5,
by researchers at Duke, University of Missouri-Columbia, University
of South Carolina, Columbia University, Harvard University,
and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The study
was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.
Here is a news report on the study which was funded by the
National Institute of Mental Health:
In study of low-income toddlers, spanking found to have
negative effects.
A new longetudinal study that looks at how low-income parents
discipline their young children has found that spanking 1-year-olds
leads to more aggressive behaviors and less sophisticated
cognitive development in the next two years. Verbal punishment
is not associated with such effects, especially when is accompanied
by emotional support from mons. In addition, 1-year-old's
fussiness predicted spanking and verbal punishment at ages
1, 2 and 3.
The study, which explored whether mother's behaviors lead
to problematic behavior in children, whether children's challenging
behaviors elicit harsher discipline, or both, appears in the
September/October 2009 issue of the journal Child Development.
It was conducted by researchers at Duke University, the University
of Missouri-Columbia, the University of South Carolina, Columbia
University, Harvard University, and the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Beliefs on spanking vary accross cultures. In this study,
the researchers looked at more than 2,500 exclusively low-income
White, African American, and Mexican-American mothers and
their young children, interviewing and observing them at home
when the children were 1, 2 and 3 years old. All participants'
family incomes were at or below the federal poverty level.
Using their own interpretations of spanking, mothers reported
how often anyone in the home had spanked their children in
the past week. Researchers also made in-home observations
of how often mothers verbally punished (scolded, yelled, or
made negative comments) their children during visits.
The study found that African American children were spanked
and verbally punished significantly more than the other children
in the study. The author speculated that this might be to
cultural factors, such as belief in the importance of children's
respect for elders and in the value of physical discipline
to instill that respect. Moreover, some African American mothers
say that in preparing their children for a harsh, physically
dangerous, and racially discriminating world, there is little
room for error in their childbearing.
The authors also uncovered information about the effects
of those types of discipline.
"Our findings clearly indicate that spanking affects
children's development," according to Lisa J. Berlin,
research scientist at the Center for Child and Family Policy
at Duke University and the study's lead author. Specifically,
children who were spanked more often at 1 behaved more aggressively
when they were 2 and had lower scores on tests measuring thinking
skills when they were 3. These findings held up even after
taking into consideration such family charactheristics as
mother's race and ethnicity, age, and education; family income
and structure; and the children's gender. The study also found
that children who were more aggressive at age 2 and had lower
cognitive development scores at ages 1 and 2 were not spanked
more at ages 2 and 3. "So the mother's behaviors look
more influencial than the children's," said Berlin.
Unlike spanking, however, verbal punishment alone didn't
affect either children's aggression or their cognitive development.
But interestingly, when verbal punishment was accompanied
by emotional support from moms, the children did better on
the tests of cognitive ability.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental
Health.
Summarized from Child Development, Vol. 80, Issue 5, Correlates
of Spanking and Verbal Punishment for Low-Income, White, African
American, and Mexican American Toddlers by Berlin, LI (Duke
University), Ipsa, Jivi, and Fine, MA (University of Missouri-Columbia),
Malone, PS (University of South Carolina), Brooks-Gunn, J,
and Bracy-Smith, C (Columbia University), Ayoud, C (Harvard
University), and Bai, Y (University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill). copyright 2009 The Society for Research in Child Development,
Inc. All rights reserved.
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/study-low-income-toddlers-found-have-negatove-effects-25157.html
For more information -- contact:
Nadine Block, Executive Director of the Center for Effective
Discipline and consultant to the National Child Abuse Protection
Center 155. W. Main Street #1603, Columbus, OH 43215
www.stophitting.org
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