Even critics’ own reanalysis showed mild spanking still predicts adverse outcomes.

Evidence

But --- and this is the critical point --- both effect sizes were positive, and both were statistically significant. Even by the critics’ own reanalysis, even after separating out what they considered mild spanking from harsh punishment, mild spanking was still associated with adverse child outcomes. d equals 0.30 is a small-to-medium effect. It is not zero. It is not ambiguous. … This is one of those moments in a scholarly debate where the counter-argument inadvertently strengthens the original claim. — , The Rod and the Child, 6364

Categorization

• XREF: A general principle about how an attempted refutation can backfire and strengthen the original claim — parallels any debate where the rebuttal’s own data undercuts the rebuttal. — connects to: Gershoff and Grogan-Kaylor tested the critics’ own narrow definition of spanking — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 6425

Related

• Gershoff and Grogan-Kaylor tested the critics’ own narrow definition of spanking (similarity 0.88)
• Longitudinal, neuroimaging, and genetic designs independently confirmed spanking’s adverse effects (similarity 0.84)
• The 2002 meta-analysis pooled mild and severe physical punishment under one broad definition (similarity 0.82)
• Even the momentary compliance benefit of spanking vanished under the narrow definition (similarity 0.82)
• Spanking’s harms persist across all ages, sexes, races, and study designs (similarity 0.81)
• Spanking produces immediate compliance but no other desirable outcome. (similarity 0.81)
• Spanking persists because its benefit is salient while its harm is statistical. (similarity 0.80)
• Larzelere argued mild conditional spanking by warm parents was not equatable to harsh punishment (similarity 0.80)
• Meta-analysis of 88 studies found spanking had ten adverse outcomes and one benefit (similarity 0.80)
• A conditional-spanking recommendation is practically uncommunicable to parents (similarity 0.79)
• Harsh physical punishment alone predicts elevated odds of adult psychiatric disorders (similarity 0.79)
• Meta-analysis shifted the debate burden from evidence to explanation. (similarity 0.79)
• The religious-liberty argument for corporal punishment is inherently evidence-resistant. (similarity 0.79)
• A 75-study meta-analysis ties child corporal correction to aggression and lower cognition. (similarity 0.79)
• Corporal punishment’s harm joined smoking and lead exposure as settled consensus (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Gershoff and Grogan-Kaylor tested the critics’ own narrow definition of spanking #corroborates (0.65) — , The Rod and the Child, 6425