Children's reflections on corporal punishment

Abstract

Although widely applied, physical punishment of children (i.e. corporal punishment) is the most dubious approach to discipline. The definition was proposed by Straus who considered corporal punishment to be ‘the use of physical force with the intention of causing a child to experience pain but not injury for the purposes of correction or control of the child’s behaviour’. Corporal punishment in those terms is deeply embedded in society. The only reported common and unique advantage of corporal punishment is a child’s immediate compliance. On the other hand, it is associated with vast diverse and hard to estimate negative effects. The role of preventing future repetition of physical punishment is highly speculatve. Corporal punishment is related to increased occurrence of social and psychological development aberrations. Furthermore, excessive corporal punishment during childhood is considered to predispose children to physically abuse as adults.