Spanking children leads to adult mental illness

[Mistah K88]

So I was reading an article similar to this one:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/spanking-kids-leads-adult-mental-illnesses/story?id=16695697

and it got me to thinking.


I could say "hell I'm fine"...as I got my butt whooped a lot...Man I was whooped. However, my experience probably is different from many people. So how does everyone feel about this? I'm watching my two older sisters raise thier children, we all were raised with the same parents and all got spanked when we got out of line (I probably got it harder because I was the boy). One of them doesn't believe in spanking her children, while the other one does believe in spanking her child.

So do you feel that spanking causes mental illness later in life? Were you spanked as a child? What are your thoughts on the matter?

 

[The Squirrel]

What doesn't cause mental illness these days?

 

[Tanin]

If they go to the point of it being child abuse then i would say yes. Some parents take it too far

 

[Boom]

I was spanked as a child, and I like to think I turned out okay.

Or did I ?

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

So I was reading an article similar to this one:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/spanking-kids-leads-adult-mental-illnesses/story?id=16695697

and it got me to thinking.


I could say "hell I'm fine"...as I got my butt whooped a lot...Man I was whooped. However, my experience probably is different from many people. So how does everyone feel about this? I'm watching my two older sisters raise thier children, we all were raised with the same parents and all got spanked when we got out of line (I probably got it harder because I was the boy). One of them doesn't believe in spanking her children, while the other one does believe in spanking her child.

So do you feel that spanking causes mental illness later in life? Were you spanked as a child? What are your thoughts on the matter?

From a person who got spanked by his mom, dad, both grandma's, great grandma, uncles and aunts, I have to say I turned out pretty good.

I also know kids who were never spanked and turned out fine too. Those parents did punish their children in other ways, but it worked.

There was one friend I had growing up who used to abuse his brother; he was always jealous of the attention he got from his parents, and now both siblings are not wired correctly. One of them does drugs, the other one still has anger management issues.

 

[SuperFerret]

What doesn't cause mental illness these days?

This post.

 

[hopefuldreamer]

My mum never spanked me. She smacked me on the arm sometimes. I really don't see anything wrong with it.

In fact, I was babysitting for one of my best friends once, her two kids are 11 and 8, and the 11yr old had the 8 year old by the throat. So I smacked him on the arm, complete impulse, and told him to get off his brother.

He looked at me, I looked at him, both a bit shocked. He never did dob me in, but I must admit I did worry about it. But the more I think about it, I don't think that should be wrong.

But that's just me, and hey, I may never have kids so it doesn't matter too much.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Correlation isn't causation. The following hypotheses might also be true given the study:

-Kids who act aggressively or misbehave enough to merit physical punishment do so because of mental illness that will be diagnosed later in life; therefore, it is the mental illness that brings about physical punishment, not the other way around

-Mental illness is a broad category that is overly diagnosed (I do believe mental illness is real, but I also believe bad human behaviour is pathologized as mental illness more than it should be). The study is skewed by people who claim mental illness based on suspect diagnosis and also childhood trauma.

-Mental illness is caused by a dysfunctional environment, of which an increase in the likelihood of physical discipline is a correlating factor, but not the actual cause.

-Mental illness is caused by hereditary conditions, of which an increase in the likelihood of physical discipline is a correlating factor, but not the actual cause.

 

[Hotwire]

To speak for myself. I was spanked as a child. I also have issues with attention deficit disorder, depression and anger management. Are they related, I don't know. What I do know is that there is absolutely NO good reason to hit a child. NONE.

 

[Schlosser85]

I don't personally believe in spanking, but there is a line between spanking as discipline and abuse.

 

[terry78]

CNN just did a story about how women that own cats are more prone to suicide.

 

[Schlosser85]

CNN just did a story about how women that own cats are more prone to suicide.

Slow news day?

I thought people with pets were supposed to be less depressed.

 

[Manic]

Is peace, quiet, and obedience worth possibly giving your child a mental illness several years down the line?

I'd take the risk, but that's one of the reasons why I don't want kids at all.

 

[Baneis8feettall]

Spanking = child abuse. Of course it'll lead mental problems. No brainer.

 

[SuperFerret]

CNN just did a story about how women that own cats are more prone to suicide.

Slow news day?

I thought people with pets were supposed to be less depressed.

It's due to a parasite that is found in cats, but is most commonly contracted through eating undercooked meat.

http://gma.yahoo.com/study-links-ca...-suicide-risk-194116398--abc-news-health.html

It makes some strange sense, since to complete its life cycle, the parasite causes rats to commit suicide by removing their fear of cats and replacing it with sexual arousal.

 

[Gold Samurai]

Slow news day?

I thought people with pets were supposed to be less depressed.

HA! Wait till the pet dies. They'll be deep in depression for weeks

 

[Thundercrack85]

If you look at villains throughout history, you do see a trend of abuse in their childhoods. However this goes well beyond spanking. And it's simply beating the crap out of someone, not punishing them for doing anything wrong.

On the other hand, there are plenty of people who were corporally punished (if they did something wrong), and grew up to be "normal".

I.e. most of your parents.

 

[Mistah K88]

Spanking = child abuse. Of course it'll lead mental problems. No brainer.

I'd say there's a huge difference between abuse and spanking (my parents never whailed on me, it even got to the point where I didn't cry anymore, heh). Going to that extreme is like going to the other extreme and saying that if you don't spank your kids they turn out to become spoiled brats who have no respect for their parents. My older sister slaps her 9 mounth old son's hand when he'd trying to touch things a electrical outlet or a fireplace poker; he never cries (I don't even know if he even feels it really), he just looks at her as she tells him "no". Some people would be rushing to call CPS, but I personally don't see any harm in giving a tap.


Spanking does not necessarily equal abuse as not spanking doesn't necessarily equal not diciplining your child and letting them do as they please.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Who is not mentally ill?

No it doesn't cause mentioned deformity, that's an old lie, an old excuse for social services exist; "If a kid gets one bruise they keep questioning the child about his/her life, then take child away from parents by saying one lying of one parent doing something like that, and then say it's for the child's best interest"
And severing the child from loving parents, who get angry because some life circumstances, does not cause a child any sort of mental illness

Shove this study down the toilet, and believe in the line given by some posters "disciplinary spanking is not bad, going abusive in spanking leads to said repercussion(s)"

 

[VictorCreed]

To speak for myself. I was spanked as a child. I also have issues with attention deficit disorder, depression and anger management. Are they related, I don't know. What I do know is that there is absolutely NO good reason to hit a child. NONE.

There are about a million good reasons to hit a child. Have you not been out in public lately?

 

[hopefuldreamer]

To speak for myself. I was spanked as a child. I also have issues with attention deficit disorder, depression and anger management. Are they related, I don't know. What I do know is that there is absolutely NO good reason to hit a child. NONE.

Personally, I don't see any good reasons not to smack and child's arm if they've done something really bad. And when I say smack, I don't mean thump or beat on. I mean a smack... the kind that causes absolutely no damage whatsoever.

It's not like it should be neccesary or uneccesary. I just think sometimes it's going to happen, and there's nothing evil about doing it, and it's not bad parenting.

My mum would smack me on the arm and yell at me and make me cry if I did something bad. And i'd run upstairs and try me hardest to rub where she smacked me so that it might bruise or show a mark (which I always failed to accomplish ).

It hasn't had any effect on my life, my mental state, or my love for my mother. Which is huge. I love her a billion, and don't think her smacking me was wrong at all.

P.s. Just to be clear, I don't like spanking as in actual pulling down pants and repeatedly smacking because I think it's completely over the top and unneccesary. I also don't think smacking a kid in public is right.

 

[Baneis8feettall]

I'd say there's a huge difference between abuse and spanking (my parents never whailed on me, it even got to the point where I didn't cry anymore, heh). Going to that extreme is like going to the other extreme and saying that if you don't spank your kids they turn out to become spoiled brats who have no respect for their parents. My older sister slaps her 9 mounth old son's hand when he'd trying to touch things a electrical outlet or a fireplace poker; he never cries (I don't even know if he even feels it really), he just looks at her as she tells him "no". Some people would be rushing to call CPS, but I personally don't see any harm in giving a tap.


Spanking does not necessarily equal abuse as not spanking doesn't necessarily equal not diciplining your child and letting them do as they please.

We are talking about different levels of spanking. Slapping his hand to not touch dangerous thing is good for his health since it doesn't matter talk with 9 month old. What your sister doing is tapping his hand and make him know who is the boss and what he does wrong. Almost similar to tapping a dog's nose with your fingers when he does something bad.

However, the real spanking most of the people's parents (maybe earlier generations) using it as communication. If the kid doesn't do what parents say spanking is/was seen as best way for dicipline.It hurts kids body for a moment, even if it doesn't hurt his body..it hurts his mood,his perception,his pride etc. It might not leave any scar on his body but it'll leave some mental scars more or less.

Just because we didn't become Hannibal Lecter from a little bit spanking that doesn't mean it had no negative effect in development.

 

[El Payaso]

I say no to spanking. I say buy the child a lot of beautiful toys and destroy one of them in front of him every time he does something he knows is wrong.

Correlation isn't causation. The following hypotheses might also be true given the study:

-Kids who act aggressively or misbehave enough to merit physical punishment do so because of mental illness that will be diagnosed later in life; therefore, it is the mental illness that brings about physical punishment, not the other way around

-Mental illness is a broad category that is overly diagnosed (I do believe mental illness is real, but I also believe bad human behaviour is pathologized as mental illness more than it should be). The study is skewed by people who claim mental illness based on suspect diagnosis and also childhood trauma.

-Mental illness is caused by a dysfunctional environment, of which an increase in the likelihood of physical discipline is a correlating factor, but not the actual cause.

-Mental illness is caused by hereditary conditions, of which an increase in the likelihood of physical discipline is a correlating factor, but not the actual cause.

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[Boy Scout]

There's nothing wrong with corporal punishment. But there's a difference beating the crap out of a child and spanking them as a form of discipline.

 

[Hotwire]

There are about a million good reasons to hit a child. Have you not been out in public lately?

Many of whom were/are spanked.