Is Spanking an Acceptable Form of Discipline?

Recommend (1) Comments (1)

This is simply wrong. The studies - and there are not "hundreds" of them - that have purported to show negative effects of spanking have been constructed to yield results consistent with researcher bias. The primary offender in this category is Murray Straus. His former graduate assistant, Robert Larzelere, broke with him for this reason. In communication with me, RL termed Straus an "ideologue." Larzelere has gone on to do unbiased research into spanking that shows no general negative effect. Please note the repetitive use of the word "hit" in CED's arguments. This is nothing but a subtle way of equating spanking with a violent, aggressive act, which CED thinks spankings are. And indeed, some parents do spank violently and aggressively. But then, any valid punishment can be overdone. So, on this basis, using CED's "logic," all punishments should be disallowed. That is, by the way, where their argument leads...to the banning of any and all forms of punishment. The prisoner studies were done by Straus. His outcomes are a product of his bias. Period. As for school shootings taking place in "paddling states," this is a straw man. CED can produce no evidence linking paddling to school shootings. As for the hypocritical message, children who are spanked properly (and I describe the proper way to do it in my last book, Parenting by The Book (The Book = The Bible [which does not command spanking]) do not think that hitting other people is okay. Isn't it interesting that as fewer and fewer parents spank, children become more and more violent? That is, after all, what's happened over the past forty years or so.

Recommend (0) Comments (1)

John Rosemond criticizes research done by Murray Straus and says he is biased and an “ersatz” researcher. Rosemond holds up Robert Larzelere as an example of an unbiased researcher. Larzelere often writes articles and gives lectures in this country and others criticizing research showing corporal punishment is harmful.

Larzelere is at the University of Oklahoma, Stillwater. He was previously associated with the Rosemead School of Psychology at Biola (formerly the Bible Institute of Los Angeles). Biola’s academic journal (Journal of Psychology and Theology) requires that all papers be “consistent with an evangelical position.” Larzelere has published in this journal. It seems unlikely that he is ideologically unbiased.

John Rosemond purports that violence of youth is increasing. That is untrue. Youth violence has been dropping for years. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, youth violence has declined significantly nationwide since the early l990’s according to downward trends in arrest records, in data re: victimization and hospital records from emergency rooms. Rosemond can’t make a case for blaming the downward trend in spanking on increasing youth violence. Spanking use is going down and so is youth violence.