Hitting spanked

Medicos say enough

SMACKING children increases aggression, harms brain development and should be banned, a leading international group of paediatricians says.

The renowned American Academy of Pediatrics has strengthened its stance on corporal punishment, with its new policy ruling that it is ineffective in teaching children responsibility.

The body, which represents 67,000 paediatric doctors in the US, say other methods that teach children right from wrong are safer and more effective.

“The good news is, fewer parents support the use of spanking than they did in the past,” the policy’s author, Dr Robert Sege, said. “Yet corporal punishment remains legal, despite evidence that it harms kids — not only physically and mentally, but in how they perform at school and how they interact with other children.”

Research compiled by the academy shows corporal punishment does not improve behaviour over the long term and may cause more aggressive behaviours.

In one study, young children who were spanked more than twice a month at age 3 were more aggressive at age 5 and had negative behaviours at age 9.

Other studies show striking a child, yelling at or shaming them can elevate stress hormones and lead to changes in the brain’s architecture. Harsh verbal abuse is also linked to mental health problems in preteens and adolescents.

The policy, published in the latest edition of The Journal of Pediatrics, is widely supported by Australian doctors.

In 2015 the Royal Australasian College of Physicians urged doctors to show families there are more effective ways of disciplining children than smacking. Prof Kim Oates, from the University of Sydney, said hitting children was “unacceptable”.