4 Finally, a study published by the American Medical Association in 1997 suggests that the more a parent uses corporal punishment on a child, the worse his behavior will be over time. Report author Murray A. Straus who is a sociologist at the University of New Hampshire says that this is the first study that has been able to prove that spanking is not as productive as people think it is.5 Straus used data from 1986 to 1990 collected from interviews with 900 mothers. The research showed that over that 4 year span, the behavior of the children whose mothers didn't spank them was better. Mothers who spanked their children once or twice a week had a higher instance of misbehavior in their children. The highest of all were mothers who spanked their children 3 or more times during the week. Their behavior actually got worse over that 4-year period of time. In addition, anti-social behavior, which Straus defined as lying, cheating, bullying or being cruel to others, was 14 percent higher in the frequently spanked group from 1986 to 1988.6 In short, spanking is said to be the easy way out, taking care of the problem for the time being, but having adverse effects down later in life. People who are against spanking have come up with a variety of alternative methods of teaching children right from wrong. Experts say that one of the reasons people spank is because they are unaware of alternative methods of changing undesirable behavior. Since each age group responds differently to different stimulus, these alternatives are broken down in that way. For infants, the best way is to keep it simple.7 If a child is about to touch something dangerous, grasp the infant's hand instead of slapping it. If the child has something that it shouldn't have, parents can try trading the item for a toy instead of taking the item by force. The child will only hold on tighter if you try to pull the item away. For toddlers, the key is diversion.
