NEW STUDY CLAIMS THAT SPANKING YOUR CHILD LEADS TO VIOLENT BEHAVIOR!

Are your kids driving you nuts? Yell, but don't hit, is the take away advice of a new study.
Children who are spanked at age one are more aggressive at age two than kids who didn't experience physical punishment, according to research reported in HealthDay News. The kids also performed worse on cognitive tests, the study found. Yet when the researchers examined how verbal punishment affects toddlers, they found that it was not linked to negative effects as long as the child's mom was otherwise loving and supportive.

"Age one is a key time for establishing the quality of parenting and the relationship between parent and child," said study author Lisa Berlin, a research scientist at Duke University's Center for Child and Family Policy. "Spanking at age one reflects a negative dynamic and increases children's aggression at age two."

The scientists reviewed data on 2,500 white, black and Mexican-American children from low income families for the study, which is in the September/October issue of "Child Development."

One-third of the moms of the one-year-olds said they or someone in their home had spanked the child in the last week, and half the moms of two- and three-year-olds reported that their kid had been spanked, according to HealthDay News. The one year olds underwent an average of 2.6 spankings per week, and the two year olds were spanked on average of three times weekly. The researchers found that black children were spanked the most, which could have to do with cultural beliefs about the value of physical discipline, according to HealthDay News.

Spanking has other bad effects besides aggressive behavior, says psychiatrist Dr. Gary P. Katzman. "It causes a child to fear a parent and teaches the child that he can't trust a parent," he says "This can result in the child hiding behaviors that are unacceptable. Spanking also leads to lying, self destructive behavior, and it results in feelings of anger, shame and resentment."

But Katzman frowns on yelling and screaming at kids, too.

"With children, we try to minimize punishment and maximize things that will result in positive behavior," he says. "Verbal abuse teaches the child they have to fear a parent. It doesn't help the child learn that a specific behavior is wrong."

Berlin says that, on average, the incidence of spanking in general is on the decrease. "People are trying to find alternatives, like a timeout," she says.

She says what sets her study apart is that the kids were so young. "Most studies don't look at kids this young," she says. "Our study is consistent with a body of existing research that points to the spanking of kids as problematic in terms of later development."