Based on his studies of over nine-thousand families, Murray A. Straus, the foremost researcher on family violence in the world, describes in this long-awaited book the extent to which parents in the United States use corporal punishment (such as spanking and slapping) and its effects on their children.
The question of whether corporal punishment is an effective method of discipline is hotly debated by parents, teachers, and childrearing experts. In his most important book ever, Straus contends that this believed-to-be-"minor" form of physical violence is the precursor to much of the violence that plagues our world.
Children who are spanked quickly learn that love and violence can go hand in hand. Since spanking is generally done by loving, caring parents - for the child's own good - a child can learn that hitting is "morally right". Straus shows us what he has learned through two decades of research: that children who are spanked are from two to six times more likely to be physically aggressive, to become juvenile delinquents, and later, as adults, to use physical violence againts their spouses, to have sadomasochistic tendencies, and to suffer from depression.
Parents do not realize that they put their child at risk of theses serious side effects when they spank. Straus alerts parents to these risks, and reveals that spanking is a form of violence that adversely affects not only the children who are subjected to it but society as a whole.
This groundbreaking book is a must read for all parents as well as teachers, lawyers, judges, and professionals in fields such as social work, child protection, delinquency and criminology, psychology, and politics. Putting an end to spanking, Straus concludes, is one of the most important steps that can be taken in our quest for a less violent world.
Author(s): Murray A. Straus
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Inc.
Year: 1994
Language: English
Pages: 324
Tags: spanking slapping children violence physical abuse corporal punishment education
Cover......Page 1
Inner flaps......Page 2
Contents......Page 10
Preface......Page 14
Acknowledgments......Page 20
Part I - Spanking - The virtuous violence......Page 24
1 - The conspiracy of silence......Page 26
What is corporal punishment?......Page 27
Is corporal punishment violence?......Page 30
Physical abuse versus corporal punishment......Page 31
Importance of corporal punishment......Page 32
A conspiracy of silence......Page 33
Trivialisation, anxiety, and moral opposition......Page 34
Lack of research......Page 35
Misleading research......Page 36
Child-rearing advice books......Page 37
Plan of the book......Page 39
The virtuous violence......Page 42
Attitudes toward corporal punishment......Page 43
How much corporal punishment?......Page 44
Corporal punishment in two nationally representative samples......Page 45
How age affects corporal punishment......Page 46
Severity and frequency of corporal punishment......Page 47
Changes in prevalence......Page 48
Changes in frequency......Page 50
Differences between boys and girls......Page 52
Cultural discontinuity in corporal punishment......Page 54
Conclusions......Page 55
How real are the changes?......Page 56
Corporal punishment and interpersonal violence......Page 57
3 - Hitting adolescents......Page 58
Two measures of corporal punishment......Page 59
How often?......Page 60
Difference between generations in hitting adolescents......Page 61
Cultural norms supporting corporal punishment of adolescents......Page 62
Gender of parent and child......Page 63
Social-class differences......Page 67
Conclusions......Page 70
4 - Who spanks the most?......Page 72
Cultural norms and attitudes......Page 74
Age and sex of parent......Page 77
Race and ethnic group......Page 79
Parents’ childhood experiences with corporal punishment......Page 80
Marital violence......Page 82
Conclusions......Page 84
Part II - The price of virtue......Page 88
Depression......Page 90
Men and women......Page 94
Corporal punishment and suicidal thoughts......Page 95
Another statistical approach......Page 98
Summary......Page 100
Why does corporal punishment produce depression?......Page 101
6 - Physical abuse......Page 104
Another conspiracy of silence......Page 105
Corporal punishment by abusive parents......Page 106
Corporal punishment in the childhood of parents......Page 107
Non-compliance and escalation......Page 108
Evaluating the evidence......Page 109
Reasons for ignoring corporal punishment......Page 110
Contradicts deeply embedded cultural norms......Page 111
Absence of linking processes theory......Page 112
Depression......Page 113
Characteristics of abusing parents......Page 114
Corporal punishment and physical abuse......Page 115
Conclusions......Page 118
7 - Violence and crime......Page 122
Corporal punishment and family violence......Page 124
Assaults on siblings......Page 125
Assaults on spouses......Page 126
Effects of hitting children on parents......Page 128
Corporal punishment and street crime......Page 130
Corporal punishment and violence in schools......Page 133
State-to-state difference......Page 135
Corporal punishment in schools and homicide......Page 137
Differences between nations......Page 138
Socio-cultural context......Page 139
Conclusions......Page 140
8 - The fusion of sex and violence......Page 144
Lovemaps......Page 147
Sexual scripts and other influences......Page 148
Masochistic sex among college men and women......Page 149
Corporal punishment and masochistic sex......Page 153
Conclusions......Page 157
9 - Alienation and reduced income......Page 160
Corporal punishment and achievement......Page 163
Alienation......Page 165
Conclusions......Page 167
Part III - The future......Page 170
Myth 1 : spanking works better......Page 172
Myth 3 : spanking is harmless......Page 175
Myth 5 : parents can’t stop without training......Page 178
Myth 6 : if you don’t spank, your children will be spoiled or run wild......Page 180
Myth 8 : by the time a child is a teenager, parents have stopped......Page 183
Myth 10 : it is unrealistic to expect parents to never spank......Page 184
The myth of effectiveness......Page 185
The myth of harmlessness......Page 187
How solid is the evidence?......Page 188
Corporal punishment in historical perspective......Page 192
A moral passage......Page 193
Expansion of human rights......Page 196
Transition to a post-industrial economy......Page 197
Legitimating role of social science......Page 200
Lessons from the Swedish no-spanking law......Page 202
Individualism, punitiveness, and fear......Page 205
Fundamentalist opposition......Page 206
Cultural rights and family privacy......Page 207
A society without corporal punishment......Page 209
Appendix A - A theoretical model......Page 212
Appendix B - Samples and measures of corporal punishment......Page 222
Appendix C......Page 240
Appendix D - Books on child abuse searched for discussions of corporal punishment......Page 278
Notes......Page 284
References......Page 290
Index......Page 308
Back of cover......Page 324
