Smacks tend to promote violence

A NEW study has found people who were smacked as children might be more likely to become abusive in their relationships later in life.

Researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch found that 68 per cent of adults surveyed who were smacked in childhood were more likely to be physically aggressive towards their partners as adults.

UTMB’s senior author Jeff Temple said kids who had experienced corporal punishment were more likely to have “recently committed dating violence”.

“While parents may think this form of physical punishment is a good lesson, substantial research indicates that it does way more harm than good,” he said.

“The current study adds to this knowledge by showing that being physically punished as a child is linked to perpetrating dating violence as a teen and young adult.

“Parents are a child’s first look at relationships and how conflicts are handled. Corporal punishment is communicating to children that violence is an acceptable means of changing behaviour,” Temple said.

Last year, a study, also from the US, found that smacking led to mental health problems, lower cognitive ability and a risk of accepting physical abuse as a norm later in life, while earlier this year a 50-year study of 160,000 children proved the more children are smacked, the more aggressive and anti-social they become.