Customer Reviews

Beating the Devil Out of Them: Corporal Punishment in American Families and Its Effects on Children

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Dr. Murray Straus has updated his 1994 _tour de force_ with new studies and data in a highly readable format for the general public. Professor Straus, of the University of New Hampshire, is one of the world's foremost researchers in the field of family violence, and it was his research on wife-beating in the 60's and 70's which led him to recognize the connectedness of all subtypes of family violence, including the "virtuous violence" against children euphemistically known as "spanking."

Spanking appears to "work" in the short run because the child stops doing whatever provoked the parent's displeasure. But the research Straus summarizes in this important new book clearly shows that in the longer run, spanking has no measurable beneficial effects at all, and is associated with a variety of long term negative effects. The more children are spanked, the more they assault siblings and other children. The more children are spanked, the more their rates of age adjusted antisocial behavior increase over time. Spanking in childhood is associated with higher levels of alcoholism, depression, masochistic fantasy, and suicidal ideation later in life.

As more family violence data accumulates, more evidence accumulates in support of Straus's view of normative forms of violence "spilling over" into criminal forms. Parents who spank their children are significantly more likely to also physically abuse them than parents who don't. Parents who spank their children are more likely to physically abuse each other. And physically abused children are even more likely to grow up to commit crimes against nonfamily members than spanked children, who are in turn more likely to do so than nonspanked children.

The mounting tide of research on spanking resembles the growth of research on the harmful effects of cigarette smoking. In both cases, no single study settled the issue. Every study had its weaknesses and its strengths. But when all of the available studies are viewed as a whole, a grim picture emerges: of a widespread, culturally ingrained habit which causes grave harm, bit by bit, by subtle increments.

The parallels between smoking and spanking extend beyond the similarity of research study designs. Both are addictive practices justified by their practicioners in similar ways. "I've smoked for fifty years and I feel great!" "I was spanked and it never did ME any harm!" Bit by bit, the mounting evidence linking smoking with cancer eroded much of the cultural denial. Straus's book is at once a recognition of a similar trend towards popular identification of spanking as a harmful, injurious act, and an influence furthering that trend.

Every new parent who is planning to spank their child simply because that is how they were raised should read this book and reconsider this thoughtless choice. The data which is emerging today in the social sciences will take years more to penetrate fully into the public consciousness, just as the awareness of the dangers of smoking did. By the time it does, today's spanking-aged children will be teenagers or young adults, coming of age in a world which will view physical punishment of children no more favorably than of forcing children to smoke cigarettes. They will retroactively judge today's parents in light of the cultural norms in which they themselves come of age, rather than the cultural norms of their early twenty-first century childhoods. They will want to know why their parents didn't pay attention to information, of the type summarized in this book, linking spanking with a variety of negative side effects and no long term benefits to children. Their parents will not be able to argue that they didn't know, because the information is already publically available now. They will only be able to say they are sorry, but the damage will have already been done.

Just because *you* don't resent your parents for spanking you doesn't mean your *children* won't. Today's small children will take their place as adults in a non-spanking world. Read this book now, and learn the facts about spanking rather than the myths. In the long run, it will be easier to do so than to explain to one's children, twenty years hence, why one didn't.

Christopher Dugan, M.A. ....

This revised edition by Murray Straus is an exceptional addition to the discussion of whether or not to spank. Chapter by chapter, he addresses every rationalization commonly given for spanking, and presents research which debunks each one. For instance, parents might say that they spank in order to prevent their children from becoming antisocial in adulthood. Straus shows that, controlling for other variables, the use of corporal punishment actually increases the likelihood that the child will be violent as an adult, spend time in jail, drop out of school, and experience depression.

One hundred fifty years ago, it was legal for masters to hit lazy apprentices, for teachers to hit unruly students, and for husbands to hit disobedient wives. These behaviors were even approved by the general society. Now, these behaviors are illegal in every state. However, corporal punishment is still legal in every state--which means that the behavior which would get me arrested if I performed it with my co-worker, my neighbor, my wife, or the neighbor's children--is perfectly legal when I do it to my children. It is even regarded as responsible parenting. Straus's book is a tour de force, which should represent a bugle call to every responsible parent who wishes to reduce the level of violence in our families and in our society.

This is an extraordinary book--one which should be studied by any parent who is considering using corporal punishment in parenting

This book is very important. Especially since there are teachers and day care workers who spank and terrorize their students at evangelical faith-based child care facilities and schools. They don't seem to realize that their schools are really just "thug factories" when they spank the kids starting at a very young age. I should know. I used to work for a school that was very open about their pro-spanking policy. The day care workers would terrorize the kids with threats, they'd make the kids stand in the corner with their noses against the wall, they made the children stand holding books in each hand, and quite a few other creative methods of punishment. It's outrageous that corporal punishment in schools and day care centers is still going on in 2011. This book is a very important reference. Every school teacher, day care worker, parent, and child care advocate should read this book.

Thorough--yes, but I think a little dated. As the book cites, recent changes in public opinion continue to shift away from corporal punishment. I'm sure this book has been helpful to many. My only complaint is that it does not have any discussion of shaking children and infants. It may not be covered by the research on this project, but it deserves mention at least briefly in the definitions, explaining why it was excluded from the study. Further research and discussion are definitely needed on the topic.

This book is full of valid and reliable research proving that all corporal punishment IS harmful to children! There is NO bias in this book as the research was conducted in a scientific method! As an early childhood professional, I highly recommend this book to all parents and educators!

I have not read this book yet - but I would like to make an epistemological point based on the summary of the content of this book which I have read here on Amazon. According to the (sympathetic reviewer cddugan, the author of "Beatint the Devil Out of Them:etc." has observed that - "the more children are spanked, the more they assault siblings and other children." But, presumably, this does not mean that Professor Strauss has carried out a controlled experiment in which the same children were spanked in successively increasing amounts, and increasing levels of spanking were observed to be followed by increasing levels of violent assaults towards "siblings and other children".

Presumably, Professor Strauss merely observed a *statistical* correlation between the degrees to which *different* children were spanked and the degree of violent behavior which they exhibited. But this statistical correlation - if that is what lies behind Professor Strauss' conclusions - leaves open the question of whether there is a *causal* connection between the *statistical* correlation. Maybe some children are more prone to bad behavior, including violent behavior towards siblings and other children - and this tendency towards "bad behavior" leads their parents to spank them more than spanking parents spank well-behaved children? And as for such things as "higher levels of alcoholism, depression, masochistic fantasy and suicidal ideation later in life" - those aspects of the spanked childrens' behavior patterns in adulthood might just as well be consequences of, not the numerous childhood spankings, but instead of the reality faking which led to those numerous spankings. So the heavily spanked children who exhibited increased levels of violence subsequent to being spanked, might have exhibited the exact same levels of violence even if they had *not* been spanked. It is even conceivable that they would have been even *more* violent if they had never been spanked - so their bad behavior had never been discouraged by corporal punishment.

To sum up: if cddugan's book review of Professor Strauss' book is fair to the book - then I do not think that Professor Strauss has proven anything.