Studies: hitting a child turns him into a victim of physical exploitation

Families and people raising children use corporal punishment in response to child misbehavior around the world;

About 63% of children between the ages of 2 and 4 years are exposed to physical harm regularly, or approximately 250 million children, are physically punished, although there is no evidence of the effectiveness of this in education, but there is confirmed evidence of its negative results, so we offer you several Scientific reasons to stop hitting as a way to modify your children's behavior.

1- Protecting the child from physical abuse

The result may freak you out a little, but there is always a chance for correction;

A study dated June 3, 2022, from the University of Michigan, found that children who are beaten by their parents to raise them are more likely to become victims of physical abuse from others in the future.

Physical punishment harms children's development (Getty Images)

The study analyzed the relationship between beating at home and physical abuse in 56 low- and middle-income countries, and researchers defined the intended beating as hitting by hand, on the face, head or back of the child, and not with an instrument, such as a stick or belt, because it is the most common type of physical punishment, and it is not held accountable for it. The law in countries that prohibits physical abuse of children by parents.

The researchers analyzed the data of more than 156,000 children, ranging in age from 2 to 4 years, and the results indicated a 14% decrease in the likelihood of physical abuse from others, when comparing children who were beaten by their parents (22%), with those who were not beaten (8%). ).

2- A guarantee of academic excellence

In June 2021, the University of Texas submitted a review summary of 69 studies, mostly from the United States and eight other countries.

All the evidence in those studies indicated that physical punishment harms children's development and well-being, emphasized its failure to reduce a child's behavioral problems or promote positive outcomes of punishment, and predicted more problems instead.

In contrast to hitting, praise had a good effect on raising children and reinforcing their good behavior;

According to a study published in the Journal of Educational Psychology in 2020, researchers monitored 2536 children from the age of nursery to sixth grade, and the children actually showed focus on the tasks assigned to them in the classroom by up to 20%, and to 30% when phrases of praise were repeated to their ears, Compared to children who were reprimanded.

Spanking slows a child's mental development (Shutterstock)

In addition, the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire presented the result of a study that lasted for more than 4 decades of research, on more than 7,000 American families, with the results of a study that included 32 countries, to measure the impact of spanking and slapping on children in the future.

The study showed the high cost of hitting children for the purpose of raising them, as beating slows the mental development of the child, his academic failure, and the possibility of his involvement in future crimes.

3- To prevent the child from lying

Corporal punishment has proven to be particularly unsuccessful in resisting your child's lies. We all want to hear the truth from our children, but how?

The Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, McGill University, has provided a simple answer to a big dilemma, through an experiment that many social media celebrities may have mimicked, leaving a child alone in a room for a minute, with a game behind him on the table, with instructions after glancing at the game while absence of researchers.

With the child alone, a surveillance camera captures what is happening, and the researchers then return to ask the child if he has taken a peek.

The experiment was repeated with the same children every month, to observe the effect of age on the choice between lying and honesty, and the result was that children lied more if they expected punishment, than if the researchers asked them to tell the truth either because it would satisfy adults, or because honesty is a good behavior.

They also found that while younger children were more interested in telling the truth to please adults, older children had strong internal standards of behavior, which made them tell the truth because it was the right thing to do.

Physical punishment has a direct causal effect on external behavior (Shutterstock)

4- So that your child does not become aggressive

Only after 20 years of research did the Canadian Medical Association come up with a recommendation for parents to determine the long-term effect of corporal punishment of children.

And the departments of social sciences in Canadian universities conducted an in-depth experiment to intervene in the behavior of parents, and to train them to reduce their use of physical punishment of their children.

The results indicated that corporal punishment has a direct causal effect on external behavior, and has also been associated with a variety of mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse.

The results clearly showed that children who had been subjected to physical punishment tended to be more aggressive towards their own parents, siblings, peers, and later spouses, and more likely to develop antisocial behaviour.