Corporal punishment and child outcomes: a narrative review of prospective studies

DOI: https : //doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00582-1

Commentary

This study shows that corporal punishment of children has no benefits.

Corporal punishment is perceived as a form of violence that hurts children and some of us may have experienced it in the past. In this narrative review, we summarize and report the results of 69 prospective longitudinal studies to inform practitioners and policy makers about the consequences of corporal punishment.

Seven major themes were identified from the research findings.

One, corporal punishment consistently predicts an increase in children's problem behavior over time.

Second, corporal punishment is not associated with positive outcomes over time.

Third, corporal punishment poses a risk to child protective services participation.

Fourth, that the only evidence of children inducing corporal punishment is that it externalizes the behavior.

Fifth, corporal punishment predicts behavior that worsens over time, even in quasi-experimental studies.

Sixth, that when corporal punishment and child outcomes are detrimental, it is a child and parent characteristic. 

Finally, we found some evidence of a dose-response relationship.

These findings consistently show that corporal punishment is harmful to children and that policy remedies are required.