Meta-Analysis of Research on Corporal Punishment
“Whether spanking is helpful or harmful to children continues to be the source of considerable debate among both researchers and the public. This article addresses 2 persistent issues, namely whether effect sizes for spanking are distinct from those for physical abuse, and whether effect sizes for spanking are robust to study design differences. Meta-analyses focused specifically on spanking were conducted on a total of 111 unique effect sizes representing 160,927 children. Thirteen of 17 mean effect sizes were significantly different from zero and all indicated a link between spanking and increased risk for detrimental child outcomes. Effect sizes did not substantially differ between spanking and physical abuse or by study design characteristics.”
- Paper: Gershoff & Grogan-Kaylor (2016)
- PubMed Full Text
- Slides
This article received a considerable amount of media attention.
Our meta-analytic review of 50 years of research on the outcomes of physical punishment (Gershoff & Grogan-Kaylor, 2016) demonstrated that physical punishment is associated with a wide variety of negative outcomes, and has been part of several national level policy discussions on parenting. In 2018, the American Academy of Pediatrics passed a policy statement discouraging the use of physical punishment of children (Sege et al., 2019). Our meta-analysis was cited in that policy statement. Referring to our work, the policy statement indicated that “A 2016 meta-analysis showed that current literature does not support the finding of benefit from physical punishment in the long-term.” Similarly, in early 2019, the American Psychological Association also passed a resolution discouraging the use of physical punishment (American Psychological Association, 2019). This policy statement also cited our meta-analysis.