NCJ Number
190477
Date Published
1996
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This booklet discusses the harmful effects on children of spanking.
Abstract
The booklet claims that the spanked child is less able to regard the parent as a source of love, protection, and comfort, but sees him or her as a source of danger and pain. Nurturing and protection of the child, which should be unconditional, are displaced by aggression. The child who is thus betrayed suffers, and fails to mature optimally. The booklet also discusses the effect of threats, even those that are not carried out, and the relationship between spousal battery and spanking, between sexual molestation and spanking, and between spanking the buttocks and sexual development. In addition to the emotional damage resulting from spanking, there is physical danger in hitting a child's buttocks or hands, as well as in shaking a child. The booklet examines the effects of spanking on a child's performance in school and the influence on his or her choice of friends. The booklet observes that, because spanking fills children with anger and the urge to retaliate, they are vulnerable to the appeal of racist and extremist groups as channels through which to express their emotions. Bibliography