In the July issue of Psychological Bulletin, an age-old debate is rekindled: shoud children be spanked? I'll admit that I sit on the "no" side of this fence .. so I am erading this with a bias .. but I do find the discussion quite interesting .. as psychologists — like parents — seem not to be able to agree whether this is good or bad. The author of the study, Elizabeth Thompson Gershoff, finds that
"Parental corporal punishment was associated with all child constructs, including higher levels of immediate compliance and aggression and lower levels of moral internalization and mental health"
What's that mean? Kids do comply promptly, but are more agressive in general.
