Spanking can have negative effects, according to a new study of low-income toddlers. The longitudinal study that looks at how low-income parents discipline their young children found that spanking 1-year-olds leads to more aggressive behaviors and less sophisticated cognitive development in the next two years. Verbal punishment is not associated with such effects, especially when it is accompanied by emotional support from mothers.

Researchers at Duke University, the University of Missouri-Columbia, the University of South Carolina, Columbia University, Harvard University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill conducted the research.

Beliefs on spanking vary across cultures. In this study, the researchers looked at more than 2,500 exclusively low-income White, African American, and Mexican-American mothers and their young children, interviewing and observing them at home when the children were 1, 2, and 3 years old. All participants’ family incomes were at or below the federal poverty level.

The study found that African American children were spanked and verbally punished significantly more than the other children in the study. The authors speculated that this might be due to cultural factors, such as belief in the importance of children’s respect for elders and in the value of physical discipline to instill that respect. Moreover, some African American mothers say that in preparing their children for a harsh, physically dangerous, and racially discriminating world, there is little room for error in their childrearing.

Unlike spanking, however, verbal punishment alone didn’t affect either child’s aggression or their cognitive development. But interestingly, when verbal punishment was accompanied by emotional support from moms, the children did better on the tests of cognitive ability.

Other findings include:
1.    Spanking at age 1 predicts aggressive behavior problems at age 2.
2.    Spanking also linked to lower scores on a mental development test at age 3.
3.    Experts say parents should explore other methods of disciplining children.
4.    Spanking reinforces negative memories in the child’s mind.

News articles on the study can be found here and here.

PCANY is thrilled to welcome a new team to the Walk for Children family, Concrete Angel. On October 17, the members of Concrete Angel and other like-minded individuals and teams will meet at the Washington Park Lake House in Albany to walk in support of child abuse prevention. Step by step, they are preventing child abuse and neglect, We applaud their passion and commitment to kids!

Below is an interview I did with Concrete Angel Team Leader George Jefferies.

PCANY: How did you find out about the walk?
George: I’ve wanted to volunteer for a child maltreatment prevention non-profit for a while, and in my scout, I came across the Prevent Child Abuse NY website. Going through it, I read about the Walk for Children, and wanted to participate.

PCANY: Why did you decide to join the walk?
George: Because I’ve always wanted to be an advocate for child maltreatment awareness, when I came across the walk, I thought, here’s a great place to start. After learning about how many people participated the year before, I knew that the impact of this walk would give their message legs (no pun intended), and I wanted to be apart of that.

PCANY: What are you hoping to accomplish by participating?
George: I think I share the same hopes for child maltreatment to end as everyone else who participates in causes like these. It took me a while to come to terms with my own experiences with it, and, I guess, in addition to wanting to raise awareness, I want to join the troop of people who have also conquered similar times. I want to get to know and help the community of people who have dedicated their time to helping others heal, prevent and educate. Abusers often times where abused first, and I’m proud to be on the roster of people who did not allow that cycle to continue, and who live happy, meaningful and love-filled lives. When I was young, walks for prevention didn’t exist, I wish they had, it exposes the hidden, which in itself, makes a world of difference.

PCANY: Have you participated in other kinds of walks?
George: The Walk for Children will be my first walk; however, a few members of Team Concrete Angel have participated in other walks such as the Revlon Run-Walk for Cancer, and have shared with me the sense of enthusiasm, unity and power you feel walking along side people with the same commitment. I’m really excited to feel that for the first time.

PCANY: Do you volunteer with any organizations?
George: I am happy to say that the PCANY Walk for Prevention is my first volunteered initiative for a cause that holds a very dear place in my heart. I hope my participation leads to a lasting relationship within the PCANY family where I can continue to help their purpose.

PCANY: Who are you recruiting to join your team? And how are you recruiting people?
George: I have reached out to my network of family, friends and colleagues. I have been able to recruit a few so far, and we hope to raise funds through the methods PCANY recommends on their site.

PCANY: What is the significance of your team’s name?
George: I proudly named my team Concrete Angel after the title of the feature film I am in pre-production of, which tells the story of a young girl and victim of child abuse. Film Concrete Angel is my first grand-scale contribution to the advocacy of child maltreatment prevention, and through this film, I hope to set a standard of social responsibility to be taken on behalf of these affected families. I do also intend for the story to be dynamic enough to inspire those who are the abuses or enablers to change their course of behavior and seek help.

PCANY: Anything else you’d like to include?
George: I stared writing the screenplay for Concrete Angel nearly four years ago. After I completed the screenplay, I decided to team up with a few others who share the same compassion for the subject matter and start the production company Altruistic Productions; whose purpose is to tell stories of under acknowledged issues, currently child maltreatment and domestic violence, raising awareness and evoking corrective and preventative action on personal and community levels.