August 20, 1997
Contact: Carmelle Druchniak, 603-862-1462
THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN WHO LIVED IN A SHOE: THE MORE CHILDREN, THE MORE LIKELY YOU'LL SPANK THEM
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe; She had so many children, she didn't know what to do. So she gave them some broth without any bread, And whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.
DURHAM, N.H. -- The woman in the shoe is not alone -- a University of New Hampshire study has found that the more children parents have, the more likely parents are to spank them.
Murray Straus, co-director of the UNH Family Research Laboratory and an internationally recognized expert in the effects of corporal punishment, found that the more children a parent has, the more likely he or she is to have used corporal punishment -- spanking, slaps on the hand -- during the previous year.
"Given that studies have found that spanking and other forms of corporal punishment are associated with an increased risk of aggression and other adverse outcomes for children," says Straus, "it's important to discover what leads parents to use corporal punishment often and why others rarely spank their children."
The findings by Straus and Nancy Asdigian, a former Family Research Lab associate, were presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, in Toronto Aug. 9.
Straus, the author of "Beating the Devil Out of Them: Corporal Punishment in American Families" (1994), says that as the number of children in a family increases, parents have less time and energy to monitor, explain and reason with each child, so they are more likely to use corporal punishment as a quick form of behavioral control.
Another explanation is that more children increase the emotional and economic burdens on parents. The very parents who need more time to raise kids often have less time because of the need to spend more time working outside the home for financial support. The combination of more children and less time also may put more strain on the marriage, and may increase the likelihood Mom and Dad will use punitive disciplinary strategies.
The study is based on a national sample of more than 3,000 families, all with one or more minor children living at home. Forty percent had one child, 38 percent had two, 15 percent had three and 7 percent had four or more.
Despite studies by Straus and others that corporal punishment can have long-term adverse effects on children -- its use has been linked to an increased risk of delinquency as a child and, as an adult, spousal abuse, crime, marital conflict and other societal ills -- the vast majority of parents continue to spank their children. In fact, four national surveys by Straus and others show more than 90% of parents say they had used corporal punishment.
"This is because parents have no way of looking into the future and seeing what the child will be like in a month, a year, or 10 years later," says Straus. "Most children will not suffer harmful side-effects, just as only a third of heavy smokers will die of lung cancer."
Straus adds, "Coping with a first child is often seen as the most stressful part of parenthood and parent educators and pediatricians have traditionally tended to focus on helping parents deal with their first child. Although that continues to be important, the results of this study indicate that, for some problems, the need for assistance may be even greater with subsequent children." -30-
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