Spanking Can Cause Aggressive Behavior, Poor Cognitive Tests

By JustMommies

Spanking children as one-year-olds can lead to more aggressive behavior when they are toddlers, research out of Duke University reveals.

Healthday reported on the study, led by research scientist Lisa J. Berlin, who says that, "Spanking at age one reflects a negative dynamic, and increases children's aggression at age two."

The team collected data from over 2,500 low-income white, Mexican American and black families. They found that when children were spanked at the age of one, they displayed more aggressive behaviors at age two and by age three, performed worse on cognitive tests.

Berlin explained that thoughts about spanking are changing as time goes on, "It's a parenting practice that has been around for a long time, and that's also in transition...In general, the use of spanking is going down. But there is also a contingent of people who really believe in it, who say that's how they were raised and it's a tradition they want to continue."

Learn complete details about the spanking study here.

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By MommaTrish on 09/23/09 at 1:21 pm

You're kidding right? I don't like to generalize, but as I've learned in several Sociology classes, children from low-income families tend to be more ag  ...

By Aly Welch on 09/19/09 at 9:50 am

Why only low income families? How did they rule out things like poor diet and living conditions, which also tend to have a profound impact on cognitive  ...

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