The Dabate of Using Corporal Punishment to Correct Children

Corporal punishment has been long debated as a method of correcting children, yet other methods of discipline should also be subject to rigorous scientific inspection. Although corporal punishment was used as the main example throughout the discussion of this model, it is equally applicable to other forms of parental discipline. A recurrent concern within the literature has been the question of the confidence with which one may make inferences that corporal punishment contributes to increases in antisocial behavior among children. One can argue that the empirical literature has insufficient evidence to declare the condemnation of corporal punishment as a disciplinary tool. Statistically, there is an answered question about whether there are unmeasured variables that vary across children who experience corporal punishment and those who do not. These variables (stress, anger management, income†¦) can be at the root of the difference in behavior problems that are seen between those children whose parents use corporal punishment and those whose parents do not. If an association between corporal punishment and antisocial behavior are observed, it will be difficult to be certain that this was a direct association rather than an association that could be a result of an unmeasured ability to manage stress. Since corporal punishment occurs rarely and escapes the possibility of observation, researchers interested in the effects of corporal