Children Who Get Spanked Have Lower IQs
LiveScience.com – Thu Sep 24, 9:16 pm ET

Spanking can get kids to behave in a hurry, but new research suggests it can do more harm than good to their noggins. The study, involving hundreds of U.S. children, showed the more a child was spanked the lower his or her IQ compared with others.

"All parents want smart children," said study researcher Murray Straus of the University of New Hampshire. "This research shows that avoiding spanking and correcting misbehavior in other ways can help that happen."

One might ask, however, whether children who are spanked tend to come from backgrounds in which education opportunities are less or inherited intelligence lower.

But while the results only show an association between spanking and intelligence, Straus says his methodology and the fact that he took into account other factors that could be at play (such as parents' socioeconomic status) make a good case for a causal link.

"You can't say it proves it, but I think it rules out so many other alternatives; I am convinced that spanking does cause a slowdown in a child's development of mental abilities," Straus told LiveScience.

Intelligence quotients

Straus and his colleague Mallie Paschall of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Maryland studied nationally representative samples of two age groups: 806 children ages 2 to 4, and 704 ages 5 to 9. The researchers tested the kids' IQs initially and then four years later.

Both groups of kids got smarter after four years. But the 2- to 4-year-olds who were spanked scored 5 points lower on the IQ test than those not spanked. For children ages 5 to 9, the spanked ones scored on average 2.8 points lower than their unspanked counterparts.

The results, he said, were statistically significant. And they held even after accounting for parental education, income, cognitive stimulation by parents and other factors that could affect children's mental abilities.

Straus will present the study results, along with research on the relationship between average national IQ and prevalence of spanking around the world, Friday at the 14th International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma, in San Diego, Calif.

Spanking science

Whether or not spanking equates with dumber kids is not known, and may never be known. That's because the only way to truly show cause and effect would be to follow over time two groups of kids, one randomly assigned to get spanked and another who would not get spanked. Barring that method, which is unfeasible, Straus considers his study the next best thing, as he looked back at a nationally representative set of kids who were followed over time.

Jennifer Lansford of Duke University's Center for Child and Family Policy and Social Science Research Institute called the study "interesting," and agrees the method is a strong one. Lansford, who was not involved with the study, said following kids over time as this study did rules out the possibility that children with lower IQs somehow elicit more physical discipline.

However, unlike research showing the link between spanking and a kid's aggressive behavior, in which kids model parents' actions, this link is less clear to her. She added that a question still left unanswered is "what are some of the other mechanisms that could be responsible for this link between physical discipline and lower IQ?"

How spanking harms

If spanking does send IQ scores down, Straus and others offer some explanations for what might be going on.

"Contrary to what everyone believes, being hit by parents is a traumatic experience," Straus said. "We know from lots of research that traumatic stresses affect the brain adversely." Also, the trauma could cause kids to have more stressful responses in difficult situations, and so may not perform as well cognitively.

By using hitting rather than words or other means of discipline, parents could be depriving kids of learning opportunities. "With spanking, a parent is delivering a punishment to get the child's attention and to get them to behave in a certain way," said Elizabeth Gershoff who studies childhood development at the University of Texas, Austin. "It's not fostering children's independent thinking."

So when a child gets in a bind, he or she might do the right thing to keep from a spanking rather than figuring out the best decision independently, added Gershoff, who was not involved in Straus's current study.

And then there are genes, as some kids are just born smarter than others.

Even though spanking has been shown to cause negative consequences, Gershoff said many parents still fall back on the behavior-shaping tool. As for why, she says it's a quick fix, though its seeming success is short-lived and the negative consequences often outweigh the positives. Parents also might have been spanked themselves and so continue the tradition.

Interesting.

very!

It's been talked about for along time...not a surprise.

Very interesting. Thanks for posting that.

"Contrary to what everyone believes, being hit by parents is a traumatic experience," Straus said. "We know from lots of research that traumatic stresses affect the brain adversely." Also, the trauma could cause kids to have more stressful responses in difficult situations, and so may not perform as well cognitively.

You're welcome, Ruth.

no spanking. time-out. rewards for good behavior.

yep..it's not good..

People say their parents hit them and they are just fine..have no idea why their life isn't going well..

hummm, much damage that most aren't even aware of.

I've been having problems with my 5 (almost 6) year old daughter. Her teacher was very angry or frustrated when I picked her up at school on Tuesday and gave me an earful. My daughter has had problems on and off with hitting for a couple of years. But, it stopped after about 3 months in Kindergarten. She also doesn't listen very well and is easily distracted. She's very "out of it" a lot.

Her Kindergarten teacher seemed to do really well with her last year. Maybe I'll go back to her and ask her what she was doing that seemed to work so well. I spanked my son when he was little. He is 14 now. I have used spanking on my girls, but with all the information I hear on it, I worry that it's not a good thing. I also think by the time they are 6, spanking should not be used anyway. Don't ask me where I got that notion. Probably from my own upbringing. My sisters and I were spanked. Frequently and enthusiastically.

My other daughter and son have never had any problems in school.

That's how I'm raising my child.

The teacher shouldn't have taken that out on you, Ruth. I hope that your child didn't overhear the teacher talking to you about her. I hope your daughter is just going through a phase.

especially bad for very young kids...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/09/spanking-toddlers-poverty-punishment-and-preparation-for-life.html

Okay, that's what I thought, but I really didn't know what to do. I have seen so many parents who defend their children's bad behavior endlessly and I didn't want to do that. But, I also felt that it was inappropriate for her to be so angry. And, yes, my daughter heard. The teacher had her by the hand when she walked the class out to the pick up area which I thought was strange. When she saw me she pulled my daughter over to me and held her hand the entire time she was telling me how terrible she had been all day and this week in general. My daughter was crying when the teacher was telling me this. I thought maybe I was being stupid for being bothered by this, but all I wanted to do was grab my daughter away from this woman.

I talked to my daughter about it later, but didn't punish her at all. I will be seeing the teacher tomorrow for regularly scheduled parent-teacher conferences. I'm really glad this came up tonight. I feel a little bit better prepared for tomorrow.

Interesting.

So when a child gets in a bind, he or she might do the right thing to keep from a spanking rather than figuring out the best decision independently, added Gershoff, who was not involved in Straus's current study.

you can spank me winx :)

Under 4or 5 is especially bad..cause at that age they are just ...

Oohh...Ruth...that's just awful. That teacher is out of line!
Your poor daughter.

Is there any way that she can get a different teacher?

Hey, stranger, how ya doing there?

I have no idea, but you can bet I will be looking closely at this situation to see what is really going on here.

I'm REALLY grateful you posted this here tonight. Everything happens for a reason.