Can children who are physically punished turn out “fine?”

The trouble with thinking, “We turned out fine, so our kids will, too” is that there’s no way to predict which children actually won’t turn out “fine.” Some will suffer greatly.

It’s also important to note the concept of being “fine” is highly subjective. In recent years, we’ve learned a great deal about how violence can cause psychological damage and negative health effects that can’t always been seen, or at least not right away.

Related Article | Spanking: 3 Reasons No One Turns Out Fine & How to Break the Cycle

Possible outcomes of physical punishment of children

Although most parents’ “goal” of using physical punishment is increased obedience or compliance, research suggests it will likely backfire. The negative long-term outcomes of spanking are prevalent and concerning. Here’s why.

Research shows physical punishment increases the following:

• Potential for increased aggressive behavior; child aggression may increase and endure into adulthood. ⁵ Further, corporal punishment to “fix” children’s aggressive behavior may actually exacerbate physical aggression continually. Adult aggression is not the antidote to child aggression; it only fuels it.
• Negative developmental outcomes, including lower IQ.⁶
• Continuation of family violence being passed down from generation to generation, creating a deep trauma history and increased risk of psychiatric disorders.⁷
• Greater likelihood of future substance abuse (alcohol and street drugs), as well as greater risk for suicide.⁸
• Increased risk factor for anxiety disorders and antisocial behavior.⁹

Perhaps the most startling outcome, above and beyond these negative outcomes, is the long-term effect on children’s well-being that mental health professionals have noted for decades. This is among the most prevalent effects of corporal punishment, giving further proof that these children are not “turning out fine.”

More on ACES

ACEs are preventable, potentially traumatic events in a child’s life that studies have linked to a greater risk of negative health outcomes later in life. They include neglect, experiencing or witnessing violence, having a family member attempt or die by suicide, as well as enivornmental experiences that can undermine their sense of safety, stability, and bonding, such as growing up in a household with substance use, mental health problems, or instability due to parental separation or incarceration of a parent, sibling or other member of the household.

ACEs can result in toxic stress and are associated with a wide range of adverse behavioral, health, and social outcomes, including lower educational achievement, lower economic success, impaired social success in adulthood, alcoholism, depression, drug abuse, eating disorders, obesity, high-risk sexual behaviors, smoking, suicide, and certain chronic diseases.

Why spanking doesn’t “work”

Perhaps surprisingly, physical punishment also doesn’t “work” to change behavior problems. Although some adults would argue that corporal punishment deterred them from continuing a certain behavior, what research finds about children’s externalizing behavior problems is that kids learn to hide the undesirable behavior rather than truly stopping it.

In fact, physical punishment may even make behavior worse, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin:¹²

“…Parents hit their children because they think doing so will improve their behavior,” Gershoff said. “Unfortunately for parents who hit, our research found clear and compelling evidence that physical punishment does not improve children’s behavior and instead makes it worse…”

The same research also suggested that spanking and other forms of child punishment created more external problem behaviors over time such as ‘increased aggression, increased antisocial behavior, and increased disruptive behavior in school.”

Studies like these suggest that corporal punishment appears to have only negative outcomes, especially as compared to other discipline strategies that involve no harsh physical punishment of children.

Is physical punishment the same as child abuse?

Severe physical punishment of children, including spanking, can indeed be considered child abuse and can have significant negative outcomes. Physical punishment research conducted by Harvard University in 2021 suggests that a child’s brain can’t distinguish spanking from other forms of violence:

“Spanking may cause changes in the same areas of a child’s brain affected by more severe physical and sexual abuse… It’s a significant finding because many parents don’t think of spanking as being violent,” says Vincent J. Palusci, MD, a pediatrician and editor-in-chief of the journal Child Maltreatment.¹³

How do parents know if the physical force they’re using is considered harsh physical punishment?

Any physical or mental violence against a child can lead to associated child behaviors that are problematic. The trouble is that physical punishment of children isn’t about the adult’s intent; rather, it’s about the child’s perception of the experience.

The nervous system of a child who’s physically punished has no way of “translating” the adult’s intent. According to the same Harvard researchers mentioned above, corporal punishment is perceived only as a threat, and the nervous system responds accordingly.

Research has long underscored the negative effects of spanking on children’s social-emotional development, self-regulation, and cognitive development, but new research shows that spanking alters children’s brain response in ways similar to severe maltreatment and increases perception of threats.

If you suspect a child is being abused, neglected, or exposed to an unsafe situation, trust your instincts and report it.

To report suspected child abuse, please call the National Child Abuse Hotline at
1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453).

Is spanking legal?

Many resources are available to educate parents and give them safer alternatives, such as American SPCC’s Parenting Resource Center and online courses.