Why I Didn't Rebel by Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach

Author:Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2017-08-30T04:00:00+00:00

However, I still didn’t think I’d found enough information to posit any themes among kids who did and didn’t rebel when it came to spanking. So I turned to an expert in the field, Dr. Elisa Romano, a clinical psychologist specializing in child maltreatment and family psychology. I e-mailed her, asking if we could meet and discuss this, and two weeks later we were chatting in her office.

“When it comes to the effects of spanking,” Dr. Romano explained, “Gershoff’s meta-analysis with over 120,000 participants is the place to look. Gershoff is the world’s foremost researcher on the issue, and this particular study is amazing because it analyzed data from seventy-five studies, so Gershoff’s results are really a summary of all the applicable literature. What she found was that spanking does not have any positive outcomes. There was only one neutral outcome, which was immediate compliance. But there were thirteen other outcomes that were all negative. These included increased aggression, a less close parent-child relationship, and an increased risk for mental-health issues during childhood.”1

“So,” I asked, “if spanking can be so bad, why do parents continue spanking their children?”

“Parents are not out to do their children harm,” Dr. Romano was quick to say. “They spank because they see that spanking works. If they spank, right away the child stops the behavior. That is very powerful for parents, and seeing it work is enough to make them spank again in the future. But even if spanking stops the behavior right now, it doesn’t help the child long term.

“People often assume there can’t be anything wrong with spanking,” Dr. Romano continued, “because they turned out just fine. But that is not an accurate interpretation of the research. Research shows that experiencing spanking puts you at risk—you have a higher likelihood of having these negative effects than someone who wasn’t spanked. But simply being at risk does not guarantee that you will have these outcomes. The argument is similar to someone saying, ‘My mom drank alcohol when she was pregnant with me, and I’m fine, so it’s okay that I drink alcohol while I’m pregnant.’ None of us would agree with that statement, but it’s the same with spanking. Of course many people who were spanked grew up fine. But why should a child be hit when we know of alternatives to spanking that are much more effective? Why inflict pain when you don’t have to?”2

Wow. That seems pretty heavy. After years of meticulous research, we can safely say that spanking does not tend to produce positive effects. But why is that? Shiloh’s story might help shed light on the matter.

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