Physical punishments harm your health in adulthood

• April 29, 2024

Children whose parents use "hard" physical punishment such as slapping or shoving could end up with relatively worse health in adulthood, a new study suggests.

The researchers found that of more than 34,000 adults in the United States. UU In a government health study they claimed that they had received a hard discipline in childhood they had slightly higher risks of obesity, arthritis and heart disease.

Hard punishment was defined as being beaten, slapped, pushed or grabbed severely at least a few times. The findings, which appear in the online edition of July 15 and in the August print edition of the journal Pediatrics , do not prove that physical punishment itself affects the long-term health of children.

"This is an association, we can not say that the punishment provokes the results in physical health," said the lead researcher, Tracie Afifi, from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada .

But he added that the findings broaden the evidence that physical punishment can be harmful to children. Several studies have linked these punishments (including spanking) with problems such as aggressive behavior and a worse emotional state.

"Children need discipline," said Afifi. "But it should not have to do with physical force."

The findings are based on 34,226 adults in the United States. UU who participated in a government study in 2004 and 2005. Just under four percent fit the definition of harsh punishments in childhood.

In general, their obesity rate was higher, compared to adults who did not report hard physical punishments: around 31%, to 26% They also had higher rates of arthritis (22.5% vs. 20%) and disease cardiac (9% versus 7%).

The Afifi team was able to take into account other factors, such as family income and whether children suffered more serious abuse, whether physical or otherwise. "Severe" discipline was also linked to an increase of between 20% and 28% in the risk of the three health problems in adulthood.

A child abuse expert who did not participate in the study agreed that physical punishment is potentially harmful. In addition, it may cause the child to stop behaving badly at the time, but it does not work in the long term, raised the Dr. Rachel Berger, of the Pediatric Hospital of Pittsburgh.

"A tremendous and growing amount of literature shows that corporal punishment is not necessary, and that there could be harmful effects," Berger cautioned.

But the current study has some limitations, said Berger, co-author of an accompanying editorial.

According to Berger, one of the problems was the definition of "hard" physical punishment. It was based on a question: "How often did one of your parents or other adults living at home push you, grab you harshly, slap you or hit you?" (The study did not specifically ask about "spanking," the most common form of physical punishment in childhood.)

Only about 4% of adults said they had been subjected to these forms of discipline at least a few times. On the other hand, 38% reported more severe child abuse, which included physical abuse that left children with bruises or injuries.

Berger said that fewer adults would be expected to report severe abuse, compared to harsh punishment. This generates harshness about the way in which the question was posed, and how the respondents interpreted it, according to Berger.

And since the study did not observe the slightest physical punishment, the findings can not be used to condemn everything, including occasional spanking. "Based on this alone, it can not be said that we now know that we should not use any physical punishment," Berger said.