By ALICE PARK Alice Park Mon Apr 12, 1:50 am ET
Disciplining young children is one of the key jobs of any parent - most people
would have no trouble agreeing with that. But whether or not that discipline
should include spanking or other forms of corporal punishment is a far trickier
issue.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not endorse spanking for any
reason, citing its lack of long-term effectiveness as a behavior-changing
tactic. Instead the AAP supports strategies such as "time-outs" when children
misbehave, which focus on getting kids to reflect on their behavior and the
consequences of their actions. Still, as many parents can attest, few responses
bring about the immediate interruption of a full-blown tantrum like a swift
whack to the bottom. (See pictures of the evolution of the college dorm.)
Now researchers at Tulane University provide the strongest evidence yet against
the use of spanking: of the nearly 2,500 youngsters in the study, those who
were spanked more frequently at age 3 were more likely to be aggressive by age
5. The research supports earlier work on the pitfalls of corporal punishment,
including a study by Duke University researchers that revealed that infants who
were spanked at 12 months scored lower on cognitive tests at age 3.
"I'm excited by the idea that there is now some nice hard data that can back up
clinicians when they share their caution with parents against using corporal
punishment," says Dr. Jayne Singer, clinical director of the child and parent
program at Children's Hospital Boston, who was not involved in the study. (Read
"Should Kids Be Bribed to Do Well in School?")
Led by Catherine Taylor, the Tulane study was the first to control
simultaneously for variables that are most likely to confound the association
between spanking and later aggressive behavior. The researchers accounted for
factors such as acts of neglect by the mother, violence or aggression between
the parents, maternal stress and depression, the mother's use of alcohol and
drugs, and even whether the mother considered abortion while pregnant with the
child.
Each of these factors contributed to children's aggressive behavior at age 5,
but they could not explain all of the violent tendencies at that age. Further,
the positive connection between spanking and aggression remained strong, even
after these factors had been accounted for.
"The odds of a child being more aggressive at age 5 if he had been spanked more
than twice in the month before the study began increased by 50%," says Taylor.
And because her group also accounted for varying levels of natural aggression
in children, the researchers are confident that "it's not just that children
who are more aggressive are more likely to be spanked."
What the study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, shows is that
outside of the most obvious factors that may influence violent behavior in
children, spanking remains a strong predictor. "This study controls for the
most common risk factors that people tend to think of as being associated with
aggression," says Singer. "This adds more credence, more data and more strength
to the argument against using corporal punishment."
Among the mothers who were studied, nearly half (45.6%) reported no spanking in
the previous month; 27.9% reported spanking once or twice; and 26.5% reported
spanking more than twice. Compared with children who were not hit, those who
were spanked were more likely to be defiant, demand immediate satisfaction of
their wants and needs, get frustrated easily, have temper tantrums and lash out
physically against others.
The reason for that, says Singer, may be that spanking instills fear rather
than understanding. Even if a child were to stop his screaming tantrum when
spanked, that doesn't mean he understands why he shouldn't be acting out in the
first place. What's more, spanking models aggressive behavior as a solution to
problems.
For children to understand what and why they have done something wrong, it may
take repeated efforts on the parent's part, using time-outs - a strategy that
typically involves denying the child any attention, praise or interaction with
parents for a specified period of time (that is, the parents ignore the child).
These quiet times force children to calm down and learn to think about their
emotions, rather than acting out on them blindly.
Spanking may stop a child from misbehaving in the short term, but it becomes
less and less effective with repeated use, according to the AAP; it also makes
discipline more difficult as the child gets older and outgrows spanking. As the
latest study shows, investing the time early on to teach a child why his
behavior is wrong may translate to a more self-aware and in-control youngster
in the long run.
Donner la fess e un enfant le rendrait plus agressif
LEMONDE.FR | 13.04.10 | 09h01 Mis jour le 13.04.10 | 11h28
Fessera ou fessera pas ? La fess e divise. Selon une tude r alis e
outre-Atlantique et publi e lundi dans Pediatrics, les enfants qui re oivent fr
quemment une fess e 3 ans ont toutes les chances de devenir plus agressifs d
s l' ge de 5 ans.
L'Universit de Tulane, en Louisiane, s'est pench e sur la pratique de 2 500 m
res am ricaines. Pr s de la moiti (45,6 %) affirmaient ne pas avoir corrig
leur enfant d'une fess e au cours du mois pr c dent, 27,9 % l'avaient fait une
ou deux fois, et plus d'un quart, 26,5 %, l'avaient fait plus de deux fois. Par
rapport aux enfants qui n' taient pas frapp s, ceux qui subissaient r guli
rement un ch timent ont montr des signes d'agressivit l' ge de 5 ans : ils
ont m me fait preuve "d'insolence, de cris, de cruaut , de m chancet vis- -vis
des autres". "Certains se battent, exercent des menaces, voire d truisent des
choses", a affirm Catherine Taylor, chercheuse en sant publique l'Universit
de Tulane.
L'Acad mie am ricaine de p diatrie s'est prononc e contre la fess e et pr
conise le bon vieux "coin" comme punition, de quoi donner l'enfant le temps
de r fl chir ses actes et leurs cons quences. Malgr ces recommandations, la
plupart des parents aux Etats-Unis approuvent ou ont utilis le ch timent
corporel comme un outil de discipline, dit l' tude. "L' tude sugg re que m me
des formes mineures de ch timent corporel accroissent les risques d'un
comportement agressif de l'enfant", ajoute l'enqu te.
C t Vieux Continent, une tude de TNS Sofres-Logica r alis e pour Dimanche
Ouest France en novembre 2009 soulignait que deux tiers des parents et parmi
eux, surtout des sympathisants de droite, des ouvriers et des hommes avaient
recours la fess e, mais exceptionnellement, 52 % d'entre eux estimant que la
fess e est un geste viter, qui banalise la violence.
Le Monde.fr, avec AFP