Does Spanking Cause Lower IQs?
September 28, 2009 by Eliza Ferree
Filed under Parenting
A new report has come out stating children that are spanked may actually have a lower IQ then those that don’t get spanked. I want to know your opinion on this.
IMG: Sxc.hu
Spanking can get kids to behave in a hurry, but new research suggests it can do more harm than good to their noggins. The study, involving hundreds of U.S. children, showed the more a child was spanked, the lower his or her IQ compared with others.
“All parents want smart children,” said study researcher Murray Straus of the University of New Hampshire. “This research shows that avoiding spanking and correcting misbehavior in other ways can help that happen.”
First I don’t really agree with this statement, I was spanked as a child as was so many others from my generation and generations before me. Are we all stupid? Some of those that are stating this were probably even spanked, but they are labeled brilliant or at least as sources that can make statements as this. Why do I feel so strongly?
While I don’t agree that parents should beat their child I believe there are circumstances. What about the neighbor child that backhanded his mom the other day because he simply didn’t like her stating something? Or what about the boy that stabbed another kid with a pencil because he wouldn’t share the glue? Another incident might be a 10 year old telling his mom he was going out, she replied “be back before the lights go on.” His response was, “or what mom. We’ll talk?” I witnessed most of the above (not the child stabbing) in the past few years and I must say I was shocked. Have our children become this disrespectful to adults. The answer is, most have. These days we are told don’t spank a child, instead talk to them calmly about what they did wrong and hope it never happens again.
I think the word “Spanked” should definitely be defined in this case.
Spanking: the act of slapping on the buttocks
Smack: the act of smacking something; a blow delivered with an open hand
Beat: hit repeatedly
I remember hearing stories of kids being hit with “ugly bats,” belts, fly swatters or even wooden spoons. Today those children are still smart, they grew up and did just the opposite of those parents. They don’t have lower IQs in fact some are smarter than the rest, granted they will probably never strike a child I still don’t think the “spanking” makes the lower IQ.
LA Times quoted:
The relationship between spanking and intelligence is found in children around the world, said the lead author of the study, University of New Hampshire professor Murray Straus. Children in the United States who were spanked had lower IQs — by 2.8 to 5 points — than those who were not spanked, Straus found.
Straus studied 806 children ages 2 to 4 and 704 ages 5 to 9. Both groups were retested four years later. How often parents spanked influenced IQ score. “The more spanking, the slower the development of the child’s mental ability,” Straus said in a news release. “But even small amounts of spanking made a difference.”
Straus and his colleagues looked at corporal punishment practices in 32 countries by surveying 17,404 university students. The analysis found a lower average IQ in nations in which spanking was more prevalent. The strongest link between corporal punishment and IQ was for those whose parents continued to use corporal punishment even when they were teenagers.
A lower IQ could be a variety of things:
- born that way (maybe mom and dad weren’t a genius)
- not shown love
- lack of proper nutrition
- kept in the dark
- treated invisible
- treated as if they were dumb
I have read comments on another blog today where the person stated, “Could it not be that the person with the higher IQ was just always well-behaved?” This brings up a very interesting thought. But back to spanking, yes, spanking hurts and should definitely be a last resort. But I do NOT think it will lower the IQ of a child…at least not alone. What do you think? Before you answer, were you spanked as a child and have a lower IQ than most? Watch the video below:
I also disagree with the article. I was spanked a lot as a child, more than was necessary, and I was considered a good kid. But, I have a rather high IQ (I qualify to join Mensa). So although spanking damaged me emotionally, I don’t think it affected my intelligence.
I’m not buying this one. “Eggs are bad for you. Eggs are good for you.” They can’t make up their minds. There are too many other contributing factors involved here such as socioeconomic status, income, parent’s IQs, etc. I’ve met a lot of higher income and educated people that spank their children and their children are very intelligent. Then you meet the ones in Wal-Mart that have a cigarette hanging out of their mouth, they’re screaming at their kids, smacking them, and threatening to “beat their a**.
There seems to be an overwhelming amount of info on the internet pointing to the negative impacts of spanking. As I have mentioned on my podcast numerous times, I see spanking as a tool that should not be used until absolutely needed and used primarily to bring a child’s attention back to a discussion based on reason and logic- a chance to teach what is wrong with what they are doing or have done and why. That discussion cannot happen when they are in a mental state that is rebellious and lacks focus. A smack to the back sides is typically good enough to restore that focus and is memorable enough to help eliminate a need for that level of “attention getting” in the future.
Spanking is violence! Violence leads to more violence…The kid who ” backhanded his mom ” and the kid who stabbed with a pencil were not raised to discuss and reason. I am a victim of child abuse because I was spanked. Probably “only when necessary”- my parents did not respect me. I felt degraded and humiliated.I am certain that spanking caused me emotional harm. children cannot learn if they are not emotionally secure- therefore abuse certainly can affect IQ.
Child buttock-battering vs. DISCIPLINE:
Child buttock-battering for the purpose of gaining compliance is nothing more than an inherited bad habit.
Its a good idea for people to take a look at what they are doing, and learn how to DISCIPLINE instead of hit.
I think the reason why television shows like “Supernanny” and “Dr. Phil” are so popular is because that is precisely what many (not all) people are trying to do.
There are several reasons why child bottom-slapping isn’t a good idea. Here are some good, quick reads recommended by professionals:
Plain Talk About Spanking
by Jordan Riak,
The Sexual Dangers of Spanking Children
by Tom Johnson,
NO VITAL ORGANS THERE, So They Say
by Lesli Taylor M.D. and Adah Maurer Ph.D.
Most compelling of all reasons to abandon this worst of all bad habits is the fact that buttock-battering can be unintentional sexual abuse for some children. There is an abundance of educational resources, testimony, documentation, etc available on the subject that can easily be found by doing a little research with the recommended reads-visit http://www.nospank.net.
Just a handful of those helping to raise awareness of why child bottom-slapping isn’t a good idea:
American Academy of Pediatrics,
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
Center For Effective Discipline,
PsycHealth Ltd Behavioral Health Professionals,
Churches’ Network For Non-Violence,
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
Parenting In Jesus’ Footsteps,
Global Initiative To End All Corporal Punishment of Children,
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In 26 countries, child corporal punishment is prohibited by law (with more in process). In fact, the US was the only UN member that did not ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Is there a reference to this study? I’d like to review the facts for myself. I do not doubt that there may be a correlation, however, it would be interesting to see if there is any way to see whether or not there was any indication of causation in this study or if factors were controlled for which makes the findings stronger. Whether readers or the author was spanked and has a good IQ is very irrelevant in evaluating research. Anecdotal information does not over-turn well controlled studies. It is the other way around.