Spanking remains a very emotive issue in society today considering that it creates a divide on whether parents ought to take up spanking as a form of punishment when dealing with their children. In some studies, spanking has been associated with aggression among children, which seeks to suggest that the idea of spanking fails to deliver on what is expected towards promoting positive child development. However, this has been countered by the fact that some of the studies have highlighted the existing connection between positive behavior among children to spanking during the early stages of development. Consequently, this has contributed to the occurrence of a severe controversy that seeks to examine whether indeed spanking ought to be embraced as a critical form of punishment. That suggests the need for having to evaluate the views presented from multiple research articles on the issue.
Claims from Both Articles
In the first article, Maguire ‐ Jack, Gromoske, & Berger (2012) examine the issue of spanking within the first five years arguing that this is the main stage of life that is considered as being essential towards defining a child's behavior in later stages of life. In examining of the effects of spanking, the article suggests that continued spanking can be adversely associated with cognitive skills and behavioral problems, which occur between the age of 3 and five years in cases where spanking occurs between 1 and three years. From this perspective, the authors suggest that spanking may have severe implications for child development considering that the parents fail to account for internalizing and externalizing behaviors that children are likely to exhibit as a result of their exposure to pain associated with the acts of spanking.
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In the second article, Stacks, Oshio, Gerard, & Roe (2009) embarked on an analysis of the effects of spanking on child aggression with the focus being towards examining children from multiple racial backgrounds to determine whether race may have any significant impact on child aggression after the spanking. From the results, it can be noted that temperament levels among children in Hispanic and African American families remained the same regardless of the children's exposure to spanking. However, this was not the case when dealing with Caucasian families, as spanking was associated with high levels of aggression among these families with maternal warmth failing to moderate such aggressive behaviors. In that perspective, it was noted that spanking had essential impacts on children within different racial categories, as it created a structured approach through which to build on what would be considered as aggression resulting from the actual exposure to spanking.
Evidence from Articles
Maguire ‐ Jack, Gromoske, & Berger (2012) embrace an argument that accounts for spanking within the first three years arguing that it seeks to build on what would be considered as a structured platform through which to maximize on one's behavior. The authors present evidence suggesting that spanking at the age of 1 year can be associated with externalizing behaviors occurring at the age of 3 years while spanking at the age of 3 years can be related to internalizing and externalizing behaviors occurring at the age of 5 years. That suggests that spanking at an earlier stage of life tends to build on what children would define as their capacity and ability to internalize and externalize what they consider as their behaviors. However, Maguire ‐ Jack, Gromoske, & Berger (2012) did not find any link between spanking at the age of 1 with cognitive skills occurring at the age of 3 or 5 years.
Stacks, Oshio, Gerard, & Roe (2009) present evidence from a study conducted using 693 Hispanic parent-child dyads, 1013 African-American dyads, and 1086 Caucasian dyads as part of defining the overall impact that racial or ethnic background may have on temperament levels among children. The study sought to build on the generalized perception of what to consider as a structured avenue through which to define the importance of race or ethnicity towards building on overall impression. Stacks, Oshio, Gerard, & Roe (2009) used the Home Observation for the Measure of Environment (HOME) with the sole intention being towards ensuring that the results were valid and reliable. That played a crucial role in ensuring that the article would provide information that can be considered as being useful to help in maximizing on a structured understanding of spanking during the early stages of child development.
Logical Fallacies
From the claims and fallacies that have been presented, it is essential to take note of the fact that several logical fallacies exist, which would have severe implications for the general outcome of the study projections. The first logical fallacy reflects on the fact that parents may engage in the spanking of their children as early as one year, which is a fallacy that goes beyond logic. At the age of 1 year, infants are not aware of what is right or wrong; thus, meaning that they would most likely engage in behaviors and habits without their understanding of the impacts. The second fallacy is that spanking may have implications on one’s cognitive skills, which fails to account for the fact that cognitive abilities are defined by one's brain development rather than punishment for negative behaviors.
Stronger Article
From a comparison of the articles, it is clear that the first article is indeed stronger regarding its arguments, as it provides a clear link between spanking and the underlying behaviors that result from exposure to this form of punishment. Maguire ‐ Jack, Gromoske, & Berger (2012) focus much of their attention towards creating what would be viewed as a structured understanding on what to expect when engaging in spanking as a form of punishment from as early as one year. In the second article, Stacks, Oshio, Gerard, & Roe (2009) fail to provide readers with a clear connection between the outcomes indicated and spanking, especially in the early stages of child development. The outcome is that readers find it much harder in trying to build on the general understanding of what to expect in adopting spanking as a preferred choice of punishment.
How the controversy is applicable and significant to the world
The discussion is appropriate and meaningful to the world considering that parents have a crucial responsibility for ensuring that they punish their children if they engage in actions or behaviors that go against the expected norms. However, one of the key questions has been whether engaging in spanking can be seen as a viable form of punishment considering that children tend to have different differentiated reactions to the use of pain as a form of punishment. That serves as a clear indication of the fact that the controversy would be necessary for a significant number of people, most of who are parents that seek to determine whether their use of spanking would be viewed as having achieved a high level of results towards maximizing on positive behaviors among children.
References
Maguire ‐ Jack, K., Gromoske, A. N., & Berger, L. M. (2012). Spanking and child development during the first five years of life. Child development , 83 (6), 1960-1977.
Stacks, A. M., Oshio, T., Gerard, J., & Roe, J. (2009). The moderating effect of parental warmth on the association between spanking and child aggression: A longitudinal approach. Infant and Child Development: An International Journal of Research and Practice , 18 (2), 178-194.
