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NEW YORK, U.S.A., June 25, 2002: Elizabeth Gershoff, a researcher at Columbia University’s National Center for Children in Poverty, suggests to parents that if their children are acting poorly and they are going to spank them, consider an alternative. She says, ” Think of something else to do — leave the room, count to 10 and come back again.” After five years studying 88 studies of corporal punishment since 1938, Gershoff has tracked short and long term effects of spanking on children. Trained as a psychologist, Gershoff concluded from her project that spanking could be correlated with negative behaviors such as aggression, anti-social behavior and mental health problems. In a society where it is illegal to hit an adult, a prisoner or animals, Gershoff finds it ironic that many Americans still feel it is okay to hit young vulnerable children. Even though spanking brings quick response and compliance by children, the long-term effects are detrimental. Children who are spanked still often do not understand right from wrong and many misbehave in the same manner when parents are not around. While the American Academy of Pediatrics has officially taken a stand against corporal punishment, the American Psychological Association still has members that feel that spanking that is not too severe or too frequent can be effective with defiant 2 to 6 year olds. Gershoff says, ” Until researchers, clinicians, and parents can definitively demonstrate the presence of positive effects of corporal punishment, including effectiveness in halting future misbehavior, not just the absence of negative effects, we as psychologists can not responsibly recommend its use.”

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