Spanking lowers kids' IQs
Last updated: Monday, September 28, 2009 PrintThe bad news is that youngsters who are spanked might lose IQ points.
The good news is that it appears that children's IQs are on the rise -- and at least one expert believes that part of the reason why is that corporal punishment is falling out of favour in the United States and elsewhere.
That's the view of discipline and domestic violence expert Murray Straus, a professor of sociology and co-director of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire.
The results of a survey of more than 17 000 university students from 32 countries "show that the higher the percent of parents who used corporal punishment, the lower the national average IQ," Straus wrote in his presentation.
How the study was done
In looking at spanking just in the United States, Straus and a fellow researcher reviewed data on IQ scores from 806 children between two and four years old, and another 704 kids aged five to nine.
When their IQs were tested again four years later, children in the younger group who were not spanked scored five points higher, on average, than did children who had been spanked. In the group of older children, spanking resulted in an average loss of 2.8 points.
"How often parents spanked made a difference," Straus said in a news release from the university. "The more spanking, the slower the development of the child's mental ability. But even small amounts of spanking made a difference."
Dr Rahil Briggs, a child psychologist with the Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York City, said she believes that "discipline should be an opportunity to teach your child something."
"If you spank, you teach your child that hitting is the way to deal with a situation," she said. "But if you use other methods of discipline, you can begin teaching your child higher-level cognitive skills, self-control, cause-and-effect and logical thinking."
Spanking can ‘change architecture of brain’
Briggs said that previous research has clearly shown that when children are in negative stressful situations, it can actually change the architecture of their brains and impair certain neural processes.
Dr Stephen Ajl, a child abuse paediatrician, director of paediatric ambulatory care at the Brooklyn Hospital Centre and medical director of the Jane Barker Brooklyn Children's Advocacy Centre in New York City, said that "spanking and other forms of corporal punishment mean that someone has lost control, and if that continues on a chronic basis, it may affect some part of children's psychological well-being."
And though some people believe that they can use spanking as a form of punishment without losing control, Briggs said that's very difficult to do all the time.
"When you're physical with your child, you open that floodgate, and the likelihood that it could veer into where you don't have as much control increases," Briggs said. "Plus, if you're just spanking, you haven't taught your child anything."
Other factors also play role
Straus's presentation was also to include findings from the study of university students, done by researchers in 32 countries. It found that in nations with decreasing use of corporal punishment, the countries' average IQ scores rose.
Those findings are plausible and make some sense, Briggs said, but she added that it's difficult to tease out all the other factors that could play a role in IQ scores -- including poverty and parental education.
Ajl recommended that parents think about how they want to discipline their children before they're faced with a situation. And, he said, a paediatrician can help parents come up with more effective ways to discipline their children. – (HealthDay News, September 2009)
Read more:
Spanked kids become aggressive
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Your Comments
Spanking
Being a parent it is imperative that you are continuously in control of yourself when it comes to disciplining a child. The effect of self control has more of an effect when handing out punishment, therefore (and I believe spanking is necessary) a controlled one or two smacks to the behind with your hand has absolultely no affect on the child, IQ wise or not. A spanking is not meant to cause pain but is a demonstrable action from the parent against the child for naughty behaviour.
slaan
FYI
Hogwash!
Not true, spanking helps. Actually a child who is spanked is more wiser and more knowledgeable that a retard who does not know a thing and would probably not contribute to society when he/she grows up
Codswallop
All of these new studies may have merit. So we don' t spank our child and his or her I.Q climbs a few points. Wonderfull !
Now when that child goes to school, that extra I.Q means absolutely nothing because the child and its peers do not have enough self discipline to behave themselves in the classroom. They wipe their collective little backsides off on their teachers and go through school without using their full brain ability.
I would rather have an obdedient child minus a few IQ points.
trailertrash
When looking at these comments it is clear that we Saffas are still pretty backwards. We believe that a huggable imaginary santa claus type character gave rise to humans instead of evolution, and we believe that there is no other way to discipline our kids than smacking them. Wake up and smell the coffee! Question your outdated beliefs, damn it. Read some literature and educate yourself!
Discipline is not Abuse
The bottom line is that children today have no discipline or sense of responsibility. Some scenarios require timeouts, some scenarios require smacks, etc. If my child hits me/the dog/the cat, I hit her back, she gets an explanation and she doesn' t do it again. She throws a tantrum, she goes to her bedroom/bathroom for a few minutes and gets the picture.
Besides, I turned out fine.
@piet smit
If you can believe that you evolved from an ancestral ape then you would also believe this ridiculous article. The rest of the backward people on the post had no need to communicate with expletives and condescension. Judging from your response I would rather be at the mercy of Bible believing spanked created beings than undisciplined accidents of nature such as you. Insightful
Difference
There is a BIG difference between a well-timed, corrective smack and a parent taking out his/her anger with a slipper/belt/shambok or whatever else comes to hand. The latter is commonly known as " assault" and is punishable by law in civilised countries. The former, is an important Biblical teaching, which (like it or not) was more than likely instrumental in shaping the lives of millions of successful adults to one degree or another.
What bull
But Americans are all idiots !!! and this was done by an American. nuff said
Kak
All kak...I was a naughty klein bliksem, and I was spanked daily, but still my IQ testes above the ' normal' average, what ever that means....
Not Kak
Prime, all I can say... if your IQ " testes" (your spelling), was above the " normal" average, (duh), whatever it means, you probably had the kak smacked out of you.. Yes I believe the odd clip on the bottom does work, but many mothers including myself prefer not to hit as we do take our our frustrations out on the kid. Hitting your child because they hit a sibling (sorry, 2 wrongs don' t make a right).
Spanking helps IQ
In Std 6 first quater I failed a few subjects.
Second quater I had 85% + for all my subjects. Spanking helped my IQ climb.
Prime example of low IQ
Prime looking at your language your IQ still has not improved. Maar wag jy kom seker uit ' n commin Afrikaner huis uit.
Grow a pair... please!
My mum was the worst at discipline, every syllable of a 100 word essay spelt out on my butt! Then for a guilt trip she would burst into tears. Dad was always calm, almost apologetic in his review of the reasons for the wipping, I almost needed to comfort him. As for the bleeding heart brigade, we had girls in our class who cried foul because boys would get ' cuts' & leave long before the girls completed their lines on the blackboard. Today were raising squealing nancy' s with rights & no balls!
Stop the bullshit!
Dear Health24, please stop passing off articles, that contain the words ' might' , ' maybe' , ' possibly' , as fact.
" The bad news is that youngsters who are spanked might lose IQ points. " No, the bad news is that articles such as these feed and nourish the credulous nature of society.
Secondly, Americans are one of the of the most ignorant nations on the planet. Why the hell would we want to use them as baseline for measuring mental development?
piet smit
Piet, I have a PhD in Chemistry and I know dozens of PhDs and MDs across EU and the US who don' t accept evolution (see discovery.org). Kids were spanked in through to the middle of the 20th century quite liberally, and were smarter than we are by a mile!
Your choice..
I' d rather take a sligtly lower average IQ in the total population than to live in a ' high IQ' soceity full of ill-diciplined adults like we find ourselves in now! Its clear to me that because discipline has not been taught at home and in schools as it used to be done, we find ourelves in the current mess we do.
Spanking lowers kids' IQs
what a lot of bull and this man calls himself a doctor - he must give his doctors degree back - his study if you can call it a study is totally a waist of time
Is this what you call Journalism?
This article was posted on Physorg.com. Pleeeease people, to have an accurate study done, they should have measured the IQ of the children before and after spanking. This was not done, so it does not confirm that spanking lowers IQ, it might be a possibility. Another possibility, children with lower IQ' s are spanked more. What was first, the chicken or the egg?
resulted in a los of 2.8 points?
Out of how many points? I think you will find that it is on a lot more than 100 but by not adding, how many points the test scores, makes for better reading right? Spanking can be done in a spirit of love, as one can see from som of these points if done in such a spirit, it helps one grow. Would have been interesting to follow these kids till when they matriculate, scores might have reversed by then.
Ok sorry IQ points obviously
Still too early I see it refers to IQ points.
Not real science
What a load of crap! A pathetic, ridiculous, insignificant and flawed study. I bet I could perform a study in which it could be concluded that lack of discipline leads to a greater likelihood of the child having learning difficulties, more likely to experiment with drugs, more likely to have problems with the law etc. I' m sure other REAL scientists (phys/chem/math/biol/geol etc) will be quick to point out that it' s easy to prove what you want to prove - try disproving your conclusions as well
Can I sue?
Can I sue my parents for spanking me then? I mean 5 points are a lot, given I' m already in the top 5% in the world. Really they took away sooo much of me by spanking and disciplining me, boo hoo.
its fine for Americans
why bother this is americans thesis, americans have their own dirty thinking abilities that they want to spoil the world with, i take my hat off for this INTELLIGENT american prof, with me i will do what is right for the welfare of my kids because i my peform my parenting skills, spanking will never stop. there is a saying that spare the rod spoil the child
spanking IQ
What a lot of rubbish.
Statistics can say anything you want it to say.
Those higher IQ' d children will then go to school with a gun or semi-automatic weapon and start killing the other IQ' d children. Welcome to the crooked world of the Americans - who now sit with problems in schools they cannot solve.
Maybe one day another researcher will give stats that say those who have extramarital sex and HIV positive have a higher IQ than those who don' t do it and are not HIV positive.
Spanking lowers kids' IQs
What is this person smoking?
Load of crap
High IQ is a small requirement for a successful society - If you look at the amount of American kids that experimented with sex, drugs and their lack of moral standards, discipline and poor results at school level something is wrong with their soft " psycho" approach. Unfortunately SA is following suit, hence the increasing poor academic statistics.
Take discipline further by playing psycho games with criminals and see if that will prevent them from raping women, children and brutal murders
Spanking
What a load of bull - most of the seniors in businesses and governments were spanked and most of them are not village idiots - do not spare the rod and spoil the child - the whole issue of spanking has been taken out of control, turning the new generation into a lot of spoiled brats that will not be able to hold their own in a world that has not mercy on wimps.
True Story
I was never spanked and I am almost an Actuary - must be true.
WHY WE SHOULD SPANK OUR CHILDREN
If you love your child then you should spank. Proverbs 13:24 " He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." If you do not correct your child, then your child will not know right from wrong. Proverbs 22:15 " Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him." It is a benefit to discipline your child. Proverbs 29:17 " Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest,yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.
Spanking
I' m not sure about spanking affecting IQ, but I know that excessive or uncontrol spanking can affect the childs self esteem. Yes an occassional spanking is necessary in circumstances where the child is being defient or stubborn, i.e. they do not accept the punishment hande to them by a parent, or they, slap a domestic or spit on someone etc. bottom line discipline must be thought out and controlled whether spanking or not, the article does not provide fact in connection with IQ...wrong wrong!
What BS
I use as an example the mother of my child. She was NOT spanked and has a lower IQ than I do ... and I WAS spanked. So how would the ' researchers' go about explaining that?
I agree with LILO and all the other pro-spanking parents out there. Look at Britain, as an example, where you are not allowed to spank your child ... the kids are FREE RANGE. Absolutely out of control.
Nice comments Nombulelo. I fully agree.
Spanking
I say rubbish. The reason the children of today are so out of control is because there is NO spanking aka discipline. The children never learn any consequence. I was spanked as I child when I was naughty and I learned from it and my IQ is fine. I grew up to know the difference between right and wrong. So I thank my parents for spanking me.
Poorly written article
I think that this article is poorly written as it attempts to convey the message that spanking DOES lower a child' s IQ level, when the researchers were actually not able to prove it. Poor form Health24.
Idiots
The real bad news is that is News 24 keep publishing this kind of crap they " might" loose readers
Breeding the spoilt generation
-|-//www.iol.co.za/html/frame_babynet.php?art_id=iol1252917087247S143& set_id=16& click_id=661
Hitler was a genius
What use is it if your kid is a genius without manners and discipline. The world has had enough evil geniuses.
What a load of Rubbish!
A little spanking now and again actually does wonders! This is just like a previous article where it stated that spanking children causes them to be aggressive!! I was spanked all the time growing up. At home & at school. If you were naughty then spanking was sure to follow. Today I am by no means a retard due to lack of IQ (IT Project Management PhD) nor am I aggressive or a criminal due to spanking. The American are a bunch of sissies!!
So thats why i is the idiot i is!
Sounds like someone is craving their 15 minutes of limelight.
the loony bin again
I spanked my son (when you spank gently you don' t hve to do it much at all). Saw a mother spank a hellish brat on the escalator at Eastgate and all the shoppers clapped hands.
Oh and b.t.w. my son is a member of mensa.
Cheers everyone. Happy disciplined kids.
Do some reading
So most people here think this is rubbish. Are you sure? Do you want to take a chance? And yes the world is flat. Do your selves a favour and do some reading on the research on spanking.
In my opinion it is NEVER okay to hit a defenceless child.
It is true
I am blessed with an 11 year old Daughter who is polite, well behaved and respectfull. she is also extremely intelligent. No one has EVER raised a hand to her. It can be done.
Chloe
Have you ever thought that maybe the reason the kid is a hellish brat is because he is spanked (and propably often if the mother has the nerve to do it in public!)
Anonymous
I find it quite interesting that the majority of people who do not " believe" in spanking are those who give their inputs as " anonymous" . This " might" just mean that they are also spanking their children but are not " man" enough to admit it.
To all the anonymous people out there, there is a difference between spanking with love and assault, don' t you think?
Spanking
Please do not believe everything you read!!
Discipline and the World
I do not agree just take a look at the World today since the so called no discipline by spanking came in. The young generation has no respect not to themselves or others around them especially to their parents. Yes, one does not just spank for no reason and out of control but spanking does the world of good and should be done on the backside not all over the body. The Bible tells one that you need to do it when it is required. Psychology has never worked and will never work in teaching children discipline and please those that say how can you spank a defenseless child look at them when they are grownup and let’ s talk again. I have friends who bring their children up with the so called Psychology and they are real brats. Bring it back and we will have a much better society.
NO SMACKING
Fabulous. Well done 24.com. 50 years ago it was acceptable to give your wife a little smack ( abuse we are still fighting against in SA.) Let' s not take 50 years to realise that smacking children is counter productive in everything we are trying to achieve as parents. Saying you were smacked and turned out ok is a weak argument and subject to a professional' s diagnosis. The fact that you are in turn are prepared to smack your own children is evidence of the cycle of dysfunction that is perpetua
haha
Wat ' n pot snot!
IQ / spanking
There is a true saying: Don' t spare the rod. In Afrikaans: Buig die boompie terwyl dit klein is. Look around you the children of today is worse of without a spank and GOOD Discipline. And sorry for saying this the naughtiest of children you find in English schools and households. Teach your children discipline from the moment they are born. Bring discipline back into schools, and this country of South Africa will be better off. Spend more quality time with your children.
Claire think again
You and Piet have obvious agendas to follow and as such would use any means to forward that agenda. Nowhere in my family was it ever acceptable to smack a woman. There is also no legacy of this in normal South Africans so please do not use the exception to substantiate your argument. I have two girls and do not spank them, but that is my parenting choise I do try is prescribe my opinion to others. As long as temper and cruelty is not in the equation I fail to see the problem.
Spanking reduces IQ!!???
HOGWASH! As most of the respondents in this column have clearly indicated their disapproval and disagreement with this American junk, so do I. Mostly I find your articles informative and insightful, and I learn from them, but this just goes beyond the pale! Remember what the Creator of the Universe said: Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child The rod of discipline will remove it far from him. (Proverbs 22:15) I will stand up and be counted for what I believe in. God' s Word!
Check the IQ of kids in our schools that are out o
Check the IQ of the kids in our schools that are out of control. Check the correctional facilities. Check those that do crime. I' d give up 5 points any day if my child grew up to be successful, productive, well adjusted, respectful of others and of the law. This type of nonsense has destroyed England' s youth, much of USA youth and now the South African youth. Best thing we can do is bring back the smack.
Absolute rubbush!
Disciplining a child with a few smacks has absolutely no effect on the IQ. I got countless hidings as a child and I still got into Mensa without breaking a sweat. My brother and I were naughty little miscreants and we' re both intelligent and successful. Today' s youth have no discipline nor respect because their misdeeds have no personal consequences. A ' time out' doesn' t teach that. A smack (when appropriate), does.
Spare the rod... spoil the child.
it helps not a matter of IQ
I live in E.Africa and was brought up with arfican beliefs which i bet they work.
I spank my 8 year old kid when she makes gravious mistakes and minor ones i reduce priviledges,and i see it works.
She is more discipline, rspectful that many people commend her, she is ahead in thinking compared to her peers.
All kids need good perenting that involves knowing right and wrong. Being rsponsible thats how i teach her and trust me she is better than her littl sister 2.5 yrs boz, i taught her early.
Discipline
I don' t see all these ill disciplined children the " cause the bible tells me so" crowd are complaining about. Maybe they don' t conform to your narrow minded world view
Such good replies
Love it. Seems that there is hope for this world if the majority of people can see through the hogwash that this article is. Scientific agendas have become so easy to spot - always full of ifs, maybes, theoretically etc. Just like their precious evolution theory which is so full of holes I' m surprised they still fund it. Some people will believe anything written by a so called " scientist" - and then they accuse other people of being ignorant. lol.
Then all punishment has a negative impact...
All forms of punishment to discipline is a " negative" act. That is why it is called punishment. You can always argue that the poor child will be negatively affected by any punishment. Have they ever done studies on other liberal/ modern/ " humane" punishment and the long term effects of that? Secondly, you have to consider the pros and cons. Would you want an ill behaved undisciplined child with 3 more IQ points which ends up a washout because of lack of discipline?
lol
" I don' t see all these ill disciplined children" - and then you say other people have a narrow minded world view. lol lol lol. You are either blind or ignorant. Either way, you have little room to talk.
What a load of codswallop
This is a load of bull - I have 2 very bright children who were spanked regularly - that is probably why they can function normally in society!
Statistics
Forget all the debating, this is poor statistical research. Corporal punishment is still in favour in poorer communities, not richer. More intelligent individuals will move to richer areas and have children there. These children are likely to have higher IQ' s, in richer areas where corporal punishment is frowned upon.
To test this theory you have to compare children raised in the same neighbourhood and see which have higher IQ.
Spanking
Julius Malema must have been beaten a lot when he was a child, then. It explains much.
Chops
Dear chops, there you go and prove my point.
Bullshit
Health24 wants to maintain their reputation as ' n reputable, credible source of health information... but then they publish this load of crap?!?!
My sister and I were spanked a lot! We were real naughty little bliksems. Today she is a chemical engineer and I' m an auditor. No loss of IQ points.
Health24 should fire this unintelligent ape that decided this article should be published on the website.
@ps
Julius Malema was probably not spanked enough which explains why he is such a brat and still prone to tantrums and outbursts...
Spanking kids
Spanking children are the MOST HUMILIATING way of teaching a child about the correct things in life! Who are you you male animal to hit children? Usually parents take out their own frustrations on children.! I go completely wild when I see these ancient methods of punnishment.
The worst is when a woman or man spanks their children and say.....I will break your will! PLEASE MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have raised 5 children and it was never necessary for me to bruise their bodies
Drene
Well said. Drene
O_0
Maybe, just maybe, the kids with a higher IQ didn' t require spankings???
Dirk
Dear dirk, no actually you proved mine. You' re as narrow-minded as they get.
@Francois
Francois, I am an actuary and I was definitely spanked! As ek stout was, het my gat gebrand. :-) Jy moet swat! Dis eksamen nou!
spanking
I agree with one of the posters that its probably the other way around. The child gets spanked more because his IQ is lower and not vice versa.
I see this is my children. My younger son (15 months) gets spanked much less than what my 5 y/o daughter got spanked at the equivalent age. I think this is because my son learns and remembers better (higher iq), implying that when he was spanked previously, he learnt and does not do it again, resulting in less spamking. do you understand???
Spanking
Correct parenting must be the most difficult job in the world. I have never second guessed myself in anything accept in parenting. I wonder how many of the commentators actually have children, especially two strong boys.
Well I have two of those, one 3 and one 5 I have tried the corner, the room, etc.
All that really works for them is a well communicated, private spank once in a while.
Unfortunately I do not have the answer if spanking would effect their IQ’ s or not, but from my experience it seems to have the correct effect on them.
So good luck to all the parents out there, it is a tough job, but most rewarding.
drene
my friend teaches at a posh shool in cape town and teens tell
her to f off because the worst thing that can happen is to
sit after school on a friday ! you live in la la land .
5 kids are to many !! hello .......earth warming etc !!
drene
drene .....and all girls are virgins when they marry and the moon is made from cheese . you missing the point . who
said you have to bruise a child
Spanking is not smacking
One has to remember spanking is not the same as smacking, or assault for that matter. Most parents that spank their children will never smack them in the face or in a rage. There is of course exceptions in people. I has never been allowed to smack your wife in SA, and the boere tannies was never messed with. The question is, what is more cruel, letting a 2 year old stand in the corner for 5min after the incident or a quick spank on the bum at point of fault?
brains up their arses
Ja, I' ll believe spanking lowers their IQ. Many kids' brains are actually up their arses. Hitting them arses will result in killing some IQs. For sure!
aim for the head
Better to hit them on the head than their arses. Don' t want to lower them IQs no more!
Anyways, bruises are more difficult to spot under the hair.
Spanking is BAAAD
All one has to do is ask all of those SA teachers who went across to the UK schools to teach. They will tell you some horrible stories about the dear sweetheart dearies in the British schools who has never had red bottom. Completely unti-social, destructive, selfish and plain stupid...so one wonders how much less IQ they could have obtained if somebody actually did smack them?
I' ll take the ' stupid' child thanks
I must have an exceptionally low IQ then judging by the amount of times I got klapped. I would rather have a ' lower IQ' but balanced child than a ' higher IQ' problem child thanks very much.
Spank the monkey instead to become a genius.
I fully believe in and endorse spanking the monkey. A couple of times a day at least. I believe it has (single handedly - because I use one hand) made me a total genius.
IQ is only capacity
A young man/girl with a great attitude and discipline will out-perform any high IQ' d person. Any time any day. IQ is capacity not tenacity!
Bollocks!
Hence the many “ Ge-Hoorsame Ouers“ in our midst, we listen to quacks and their philosophies when we should trust are own parent instincts. Children has different personalities. So a parent needs to scrutinize your child’ s personalty and discipline him accordingly, that means if he needs a couple of smacks to straighten him out, do it, but if your child has that fragile personality maybe a different tactic needs to be implemented, People use your own IQ to come to your own conclusion and stop referring to studies, books, ect.
Spanking please
I' ll settle for the balanced, dicisplined child with an average of 2.8 points lower IQ than the alternative please. The alternative? Look around you.
no spanking please
My oldest son was belted when naughty.. result, dropped out of school, angry at us and it was controlled jacks. He ran away, he came back, got hidings for swearing, stealing,drugging.. Today he is well adjusted, no anger issues, hard working and a good father.. He thanks us for the hidings. But deep down, irrespective of what the bible teaches us (Jesus was gentle and would not hurt a fly), the spare the rod and spoil the child, is in the old testament. Not the new testament..
two minds
I belive hidings should be given by controlled parents, not just lashing out across the mouth, or a clip on the head, or the wooden spoon as a lot of mothers told me, once they start, they can' t stop, so they prefer not to hit.. Look at the ammont of kids that are abused physically and mentally. Yes, irrespective of hidings, they would still be bright or dim. Article has no merit. Do what is right and what your heart tells you, but the child has to know that you love them irrespective.
Spanking
Oh my word, what next....these new age psychos are truly a sorry bunch of people. Kids without discipline, albeit controlled not abuse, is being borne out with the huge increase in drugs taken my young people., They don' t have a sense of right and wrong. Parenting is about love and discipline...we are feeling the affects in today' s society for this new psycho dribble.
La la land calling...
Even if lack of spanking does " increase" IQ, which I simply cannot believe, who wants a bunch of unruly hyper intelligent antisocial misfits running around?
Pseudo-science at its very worst.
Biased
I don' t suppose that those who weren' t spanked were actually those who committed themselves to learning and would therefore be more knowledgeable i.e. higher IQ' s. Spanking can make a wise man wiser, but a fool who can endure ?
People tend to prove what they want to believe.
Doctor doctor,
Does this mean my wife should not spank me anymore?
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