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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Spanking is a risk factor for children's social competency. However, establishing causality is a challenge, given selection bias in samples and the possibility of confounding the harms of excessive spanking with the effects of infrequent spanking.
OBJECTIVE: This study addressed these causality issues to strengthen the causal estimates of the links between spanking and children's social competency. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The study used longitudinal US kindergarten cohort data from children aged 5 to 7.
METHODS: The study used matching and lagged dependent variables to mitigate selection bias associated with lifetime (Ns = 17,171-17,537) and recent (Ns = 10,393-10,724) incidence of spanking. Cases in which spanking frequency exceeded two times a week were excluded. Sample sizes are provided in ranges due to the variations across multiple imputed samples.
RESULTS: Lifetime experience of spanking by age 5 was associated with higher externalizing behaviors at ages 6 and 7, and with lower self-control and interpersonal skills at age 6. A recent incidence of spanking at age 5 was associated with higher externalizing behaviors, lower self-control, and lower interpersonal skills at ages 6 and 7. These results remain significant after cases of frequent spanking were excluded.
CONCLUSION: The results support the argument that spanking harms children's social development.
Language: en |