Corporal Punishment and Spanking in Children Spanking and the use of corporal punishment are the most common forms of punishment used for younger children today. 67% of parents today use some form of corporal or physical punishment. Spanking and corporal punishment are the use of physical force to cause pain with the intent to control the child. It is mostly mothers who do the spanking, because they are the ones who spend the most time with the children. Younger age of parents and lower income appear to predict spanking in children. Children who were spanked as children are more likely to repeat the same pattern every time they have children. Spanking is believed to help control children, but research from numerous studies shows that this is not the case. Children who have been spanked more are more likely to misbehave in school, have behavioral problems and start using drugs. Spanking and the use of corporal punishment is a huge debate in the field of child development. Most parents say spanking is okay, while researchers who study the effects of spanking suggest that spanking has some negative effects on children. Spanking and the use of corporal punishment should be avoided if possible because they cause too many negative effects on children and their development. If it is possible, you should find other ways to discipline your children instead of using physical punishment. Researchers' Views on Spanking Wendy Walsh (2002) states that severe spanking can lead to antisocial behavioral outcomes in children. Children who are spanked in my opinion seemed to have this type of behavior especially if I knew that they had been spanked frequently and severely. McCord (1996) suggests that physical punishment gives... middle of paper... and & Lawrence Wissow (2004) found that spanking before age two was a predictor of behavior problems in school-age children, but this is been found only in non-Hispanic white children. Non-Hispanic White children who were spanked more than 5 times per week were at increased risk of developing behavioral problems that required their parents to meet with teachers (Slade & Wissow, 2004). In the same study Slade and Wissow suggest that infants and young children are unable to do this because they have not developed stress. (2004). I can understand how this is so because the brains of infants and toddlers have not developed enough to understand why they are spanked. It's always sad to hear about a child under the age of two being spanked when all you have to do for newborns is take care of their needs and for toddlers redirect their behavior.