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CNN Live Today

New Study Released on Effects of Spanking

Aired June 26, 2002 - 10:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Should we spank our children? A question we asked before the break. Well, it's a question that many parents are struggling with. And, now, a new report published in the "Journal of the American Psychological Association" found that spanking may cause, among other things here, aggression and mental problems in children.

Our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, joins us now on the set. She has got more on this. What do you think here?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is interesting, it is very interesting. What this researcher did from Columbia University is she looked at 88 studies that looked at, Gosh, what happens when you spank children? Does it make them comply, do they do what they are supposed to? Or does it cause bad things later in life?

And what she found is that basically, it causes some pretty bad things, both in childhood and later in life. For example, Leon mentioned aggression. Also, criminal behavior later in life. Also the child who is spanked is more likely to abuse his own -- his or her own child later in life, or his or her own spouse. And so the conclusion from this researcher was, don't do it. There is no reason to spank your child.

In fact, she found that the only positive thing that came from spanking, was that yes, indeed, the child did immediately comply with what the parent wanted. If the parent said, stop doing X right now, or I am going to spank you, and they spanked the child, the child did, indeed, stop doing X, but, when the parent left the room, or when the parent wasn't there any more, they went back to doing what they weren't supposed to do.

Now, there was also a commentary written in the journal that said, You know what, these studies -- it was hard to separate out abuse and spanking, and they said, You know, they are two different things, and mild to moderate spanking might not be so bad, if done by parents who know how to limit themselves.

HARRIS: That's the first thing that occurred to me, because it would seem to be that anything within moderation, I would think, is better than just wholehearted one way or the other. Because when I'm at the store, the kids who are acting the worst are the ones whose parents are negotiating with them. Anyway. So, of course, that's...

COHEN: That's a different story. Right, right, right.

HARRIS: ... an unprofessional study there. But we've been taking e-mails on this all morning. And I want to see what you think about some of these e-mails that we are getting. Can we put some of these up?

This comes to us from Kent G. in San Diego, California. "I support spanking of children for punishment purposes."

All right. That's one side of it. "When you have to be afraid that someone you love will hurt you, that's called 'abuse.'" Thanks, Jackie, from Longmont, Colorado.

It would seem -- I would guess those kind of sentiments were found in the studies, probably.

COHEN: Exactly. I mean, there are just huge disagreements on this. I mean, many people feel very passionately on both sides. And I think that was sort of reflected in the study and then the commentary. The study said, No, don't do it. Don't ever do it, agreeing with that second viewer who wrote in.

And then the commentary by another set of psychologists said, you know what, if done in moderation, it is not so bad. It is done not to abuse, but to sort of get your point across, and not in a horrible, terrible way, they thought it might be OK.

HARRIS: Let me ask you quickly one other thing, though. Did the study also take a look at differences between families in different socioeconomic levels, or educational levels as well?

COHEN: Well, the studies -- these 88 studies covered everything you can imagine. Yes, everything you can imagine.

HARRIS: OK. All right. Very interesting.

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