This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services E-mail this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My File Cabinet Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Web of Science (15) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Slade, E. P. Articles by Wissow, L. S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Slade, E. P. Articles by Wissow, L. S. Related Collections Office Practice Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

PEDIATRICS Vol. 113 No. 5 May 2004, pp. 1321-1330

Spanking in Early Childhood and Later Behavior Problems: A Prospective Study of Infants and Young Toddlers

Eric P. Slade, PhD and Lawrence S. Wissow, MD

From the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management, Baltimore, Maryland

Objective. To explore the relationship of spanking frequency before age 2 with behavior problems near time of entry into school.

Methods. Children who were younger than 2 years were followed up 4 years later, after they had entered school. The likelihood of significant behavior problems at follow-up was estimated in multivariate analyses that controlled for baseline spanking frequency and other characteristics. Participants were mothers from a large-scale national study and their children. Statistical analysis included an ethnically diverse sample of 1966 children aged 0 to 23 months at baseline. Two dichotomous indicators of behavior problems were used. The first indicated that maternal rating of child behavior problems exceeded a threshold. The second indicated that a mother met with a school administrator to discuss her child's behavior problems.

Results. White non-Hispanic children who were spanked more frequently before age 2 were substantially more likely to have behavior problems after entry into school, controlling for other factors. For Hispanic and black children, associations between spanking frequency and behavior problems were not statistically significant and were not consistent across outcome measures.

Conclusion. Among white non-Hispanic children but not among black and Hispanic children, spanking frequency before age 2 is significantly and positively associated with child behavior problems at school age. These findings are consistent with those reported in studies of children older than 2 years but extend these findings to children who are spanked beginning at a relatively early age.

---

Key Words: spanking • physical punishment • behavior problems • parenting

Abbreviations: NLSY-MC, National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Mother-Child Sample • BPI, Behavior Problems Index • ME, marginal effect

---

Received for publication Apr 11, 2003; Accepted Oct 13, 2003.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. K. Chung, L. Mathew, A. C. Rothkopf, I. T. Elo, J. C. Coyne, and J. F. Culhane Parenting Attitudes and Infant Spanking: The Influence of Childhood Experiences Pediatrics, August 1, 2009; 124(2): e278 - e286. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. J. Ripoll-Nunez and R. P. Rohner Corporal Punishment in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Directions for a Research Agenda Cross-Cultural Research, August 1, 2006; 40(3): 220 - 249. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. Grogan-Kaylor Corporal Punishment and the Growth Trajectory of Children's Antisocial Behavior Child Maltreat, August 1, 2005; 10(3): 283 - 292. [Abstract] [PDF]

				Spanking infants is associated with behaviour problems BMJ, July 24, 2004; 329(7459): . [Full Text] [PDF]