More on Spanking

Dr. Virginia Shiller, a licensed clinical psychologist who has commented here on the California spanking legislation, has offered further additional thoughts on this subject. I think that this issue is of sufficient importance, and that Dr. Shiller’s comments are especially interesting, that I will reproduce them in the body of this post. While I am on this subject, I would also highly recommend that anyone interested in the subject of child discipline visit Dr. Shiller’s website, Rewards for Kids. There is a wealth of helpful information. On the spanking question, Dr. Shiller offers the following:

Mark:
I’m glad you found my earlier comment thought-provoking. Pleas feel free to use my name in posting this comment.
Let me address the issue of cultural context. The major argument that spanking is harmful to children rests on longitudinal studies, done with Caucasian families, that have found that “power assertive punishment” strategies, which include spanking, are associated with later disruptive behavior problems in children. A handful of studies conducted with minority (primarily African American) families found that as a group, minority children who are spanked do not develop the behavior problems seen in Caucasian populations.
One hypothesis that has been put forth is that the consequences of disobedience in a low-income environment may be much more serious and may require more forceful methods to prevent misbehavior. Apparently, a common saying in the African American community is “I’d rather my child get a beating from me than from the police.” And, it is possible minority parents who spank do so in the context of a more loving relationship. While I do think minority families could benefit from learning positive discipline methods, we have to be culturally sensitive when we contemplate ‘criminalizing’ parenting behaviors.

A Psychologist’s View on the California Spanking Legislation

This was submitted as a comment to my earlier post on the California spanking legislation. I thought that it was sufficiently thought provoking to put up as a post. I have removed the identifying information. You can read my response to the comment below the fold:

I feel strongly that as a society we should use reasonable means to guide parents towards using parenting techniques that have been shown to have better outcomes for child adjustment than corporal punishment. However, the severity of punishment (up to one year in jail) for PARENTS hardly fits the crime, particularly for the majority of spankers, who are simply using the discipline techniques with which they are familiar. Making spanking a misdemeanor seems quite harsh. As a psychologist I don’t know what other alternatives there might be; could requiring attendance at a parenting class for a first offence be instituted without making it a misdemeanor? I do think legislative action would provide a push for parents to learn more positive and healthy ways to guide children.

There is also concern that this punishment might fall more heavily on minority parents. And, there is some intriguing research that shows that the long-term impact of spanking in African American families is not the same as in earlier studies that included mainly caucasian families. (The results are more mixed, but not decidedly negative.) I do think minority families could benefit from learning more positive discipline methods, but we do have to be culturally sensitive.

California Legislator Proposes Ban on Spanking

As has been widely reported (as here in the New York Times) a California state legislator has announced her intention to introduce legislation to make it unlawful to spank a child who is under 3 years old. I do not necessarily want to open a debate on the relative merits and demerits of spanking – I do not spank my children (but will admit to being sorely tempted sometimes), but do not jduge negatively thos that do. I do think, however, that this legislation would represent another deeply troubling (and quite likely unconstitutional) incursion on the right of mothers and fathers to raise and discipline their children as they see fit. I am not advocating abuse by any means, but to make spanking illegal seems to me to be a bit too much nanny statism. I’d be interested to hear what you all think.