A 75-study meta-analysis ties child corporal correction to aggression and lower cognition.
Evidence
The Gershoff-Grogan-Kaylor 2016 meta-analysis: 75 studies, approximately 161,000 children. Corporal correction is associated with increased aggression, antisocial behavior, and decreased cognitive ability — consistently, across cultures, across income levels. — , The Rod and the Child, 5716
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Preventive environmental management outperforms corrective discipline in child formation — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 1948; The 2002 meta-analysis pooled mild and severe physical punishment under one broad definition — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 6423; Longitudinal, neuroimaging, and genetic designs independently confirmed spanking’s adverse effects — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 6720 (+11 more)
Related
- Longitudinal, neuroimaging, and genetic designs independently confirmed spanking’s adverse effects (similarity 0.91)
- Meta-analysis of 88 studies found spanking had ten adverse outcomes and one benefit (similarity 0.89)
- Corporal punishment harms children’s brains through the same mechanisms as physical abuse. (similarity 0.87)
- Frequent childhood spanking independently predicts adult aggression (similarity 0.86)
- The 2002 meta-analysis pooled mild and severe physical punishment under one broad definition (similarity 0.85)
- Spanking’s harms persist across all ages, sexes, races, and study designs (similarity 0.85)
- Spanking alone produces the same neural threat responses as severe physical abuse (similarity 0.83)
- Childhood physical punishment leaves measurable biological traces decades later (similarity 0.83)
- Preventive environmental management outperforms corrective discipline in child formation (similarity 0.83)
- Corporal punishment impairs the very self-regulation it aims to build. (similarity 0.82)
- Corporal punishment reduces the white-matter wiring between prefrontal cortex and amygdala. (similarity 0.82)
- Cultural normativeness does not reduce the harm of child corporal correction. (similarity 0.81)
- Corporal punishment creates inescapable unpredictable aversive conditions for children (similarity 0.81)
- Harsh corporal punishment reduces gray matter in the brain’s empathy region (similarity 0.81)
- Corporal punishment forecloses future capacities the adult child would want (similarity 0.81)
Broader Connections
- Frequent childhood spanking independently predicts adult aggression
#corroborates(0.70) — , The Rod and the Child, 9788 - Harsh corporal punishment reduces gray matter in the brain’s empathy region
#corroborates(0.65) — , The Rod and the Child, 5813 - Corporal punishment harms children’s brains through the same mechanisms as physical abuse.
#corroborates(0.65) — , The Rod and the Child, 6255 - Early spanking predicts later aggression even after controlling for baseline behavior
#corroborates(0.60) — , The Rod and the Child, 10307 - Corporal punishment reduces the white-matter wiring between prefrontal cortex and amygdala.
#corroborates(0.60) — , The Rod and the Child, 6242 - Spanked children show the same threat-response neural pattern as abused children.
#corroborates(0.60) — , The Rod and the Child, 6224 - Spanking alone produces the same neural threat responses as severe physical abuse
#corroborates(0.55) — , The Rod and the Child, 10247 - Cultural normativeness does not reduce the harm of child corporal correction.
#expands(0.50) — , The Rod and the Child, 5717 - School corporal punishment independently predicts higher juvenile justice contact beyond poverty and region
#expands(0.50) — , The Rod and the Child, 7459