IndexIs spanking okay?Part OnePart twoIs spanking okay?Part One There are a multitude of documented negative effects of spanking, but many parents don't seem to get the message and to realize the serious damage they are causing. Many studies have shown that physical punishment, of which spanking is one of the main forms, “can lead to increased aggression, antisocial behavior, physical injury, and mental health problems in children” (Smith). This punishment may cause children to be more aggressive in the future: Children who have been spanked or otherwise physically punished are “more likely to endorse hitting as a means of resolving their conflicts with peers and siblings” (Smith ). Likewise, children who are physically punished are more likely to become adults who physically punish their children because, as the tip said, "many adults were spanked as children and think they did well." . Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Hitting your children can lead them to exhibit antisocial behavior and develop mental health problems in the future. According to research, “among adults, 2 to 7 percent of cases of mental disorders – including major depression, anxiety disorder, and paranoia – are attributable to physical punishment that occurred during childhood” (Live Science). Children who were spanked also had a worse relationship with their parents and “had lower levels of moral internalization, meaning they were less able to determine that something was morally wrong in itself rather than knowing it was wrong because they would have been slap yourself." otherwise” (Haelle). Physical punishment may work momentarily to deter “problem behavior” out of fear, but it does not work in the long term. Children don't actually learn what is right or wrong, they simply learn what to do to avoid getting hit. Spanking is not the way to go if you are trying to discipline your children and teach them which behaviors to emulate and which to avoid. A research study aimed to answer the question “whether spanking would be associated with harmful outcomes for the child when harsh and potentially offensive methods were removed” (Gershoff). The results reported that yes, spanking and Harsher types of physical abuse have outcomes for children that are “similar in magnitude and identical in direction” (Gershoff). Both spanking and more severe types of physical abuse involve intentional acts by parents intended to hurt a child, usually as a response to the child's misbehavior. Spanking continues to prevail because parents fail to see it as a form of physical abuse, but the findings of this study and others demonstrate the harmful outcomes of spanking among other forms of abuse. Part Two If Spanking Doesn't Work, What Does? This is the question many parents ask and why many still resort to spanking as a means to deter problematic child behavior. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), effective discipline requires three main components: 1) a loving, supportive, and positive relationship between parents and the child, 2) the use of positive reinforcement strategies to increase behaviors desired and 3 ) remove reinforcement or apply punishment to reduce or eliminate unwanted behaviors. For disciplinary techniques to be effective, there must be a positive relationship between parent and child. This could be one of the reasons why the