Corporal punishment is the use of physical compels such as hitting and spanking to discipline a child. Corporal punishment is used by most adults at home and in school to punish children because most believe that it has a positive impact on the children behavior when they grow up. There is a psychological perception in the society that views corporal punishment as an effective method to discipline children. It is a historical way of punishing children, and most parents believe that if children were not punished using the corporal method they would be notorious in future. I think that this perception is the truth because corporal punishment causes a change of a child behavior when used effectively. Once an adult slaps a child for not obeying an order, he or she may never disobey again, and therefore it makes children respect their parents and other adults in the society. However, I think the method may not be effective because it may cause depression and in a child life. I think that this method does not have positive impacts on a child because he became a violent and aggressive person due to this experience. My arguments are based on an experience of a friend who was slapped or spanked by his parent when he was a kid.
A research article demonstrates spanking and slapping during childhood and its correlation with lifetime occurrence the psychiatric disorders. Ontario Health Survey conducted the research and the methods such as questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. The participants showed an occurrence of a history of spanking or slapping during childhood. The study excluded the participants between the ages of 15-24 since they were still under their parents. The number of females who reported of never being spanked or hit by an adult was greater than that of the male by 7.5 percent. The results of the study show relation between spanking or slapping frequencies among participant with the prevalence existence of the categories of psychiatric disorder (Afifi, Mota, MacMillan, & Sareen, 2013). They include alcohol dependence or abuse, anxiety, depression and externalizing problems.
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The four psychiatric disorders were lowest among participants who reported being spanked or slapped often or sometimes during childhood and highest among the participants who never experienced corporal punishment. 4.32 percent of the respondents who experienced corporal punishment during childhood reported having major depression. They respondent suffered from stressful conditions and pain, and they had no one to talk to because their parents slapped and spanked them when they did something wrong. Most respondents reported having anxiety in life, and their life is never settled. They have more than one social phobia and panic disorder. They lack confidence and are shy and nervous when interacting with friends and family members. Anxiety is caused by the stress and emotional disorder they experienced during childhood. The majority of the respondents who reported to experiencing corporal punishment depend on alcohol as a way of forgetting their problems. Sixteen percent abuse of the participants who were spanked or slapped during childhood abuse alcohol. They are unable to control their emotions, and the only way to solve their problems is by being unconscious of the inner person. Twenty percent of respondents who were spanked or slapped during childhood suffer from externalizing problems such as physical aggression, cheating, and violence. These problems may also include crimes such as stealing and destruction of property. Depression, external problems, anxiety and alcohol abuse, are the negative lifetime disorders a child develops after being subjected to corporal punishment (Afifi, Mota, MacMillan, & Sareen, 2013).
The article demonstrates impacts of corporal punishment on children that are different from my initial arguments. The article study does not indicate any positive impact of corporal punishment while my argument was that it helps in changing children behaviors. The research article provides proofs that corporal punishment causes lifetime disorder such as anxiety because children go through stressful time. They are always nervous and shy when interacting with people because they are not certain if they could be slapped by an adult for wrong behavior. Alcohol dependence or abuse is indicated as one of the negative effects of corporal punishment, and it was absent in my initial arguments. Both my initial thoughts and the research article demonstrate that corporal punishment causes external problems such as aggression and violence. The articles indicate that a child may suffer from major depression which was absent in my initial thoughts. Depression may be caused by the physical and emotional pain that the method causes of children. Children may not understand why a parent slapped her for a behavior she believes to be right.
In conclusion, the research article did not support all my initial thoughts because it does not prove that corporal punishment is effective in changing children behaviors. Based on the study my overall reaction in that the method is ineffective and causes harm to the child life. When children who were slapped or spanked grow up, they suffer from psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse and external problems (Afifi, Mota, MacMillan, & Sareen, 2013). There are dangers in believing in psychological misconceptions because they may be causing pain and destroy people’s lives as in the case of corporal punishment. People believe that it is the best method to discipline children as proved by the research paper it destroys their life completely. I think psychological misconceptions develop from a successful action and people embrace it as the right way to do things. For instance, during early days most parents used corporal punishment to punish children, and they changed their bad behaviors, and they believed it is the right way to correct their children. To correct psychological misconceptions we need to study if they bring positive or negative effect to the society. One should not believe in a perception without first analyzing its impact on the subject. Better methods should be put in place to replace corporal punishment since it affects children negatively.
Reference
Afifi, T. O., Mota, N., MacMillan, H. L., & Sareen, J. (2013). Harsh physical punishment in childhood and adult physical health. Pediatrics, 132(2), e333-e340.
