There's no topic more incendiary than spanking. Add to that the spanking of very young children by mothers in minority, low-income households and you have a minefield.
A group of Duke University researchers has not only ventured into that minefield, it has set off a few bombs in the process.
Published in this month's issue of the journal Child Development, their study of 2,573 toddlers enrolled in Head Start found that for poor children, early and frequent spanking — by the age of 1 — is not only very common, but it also makes their behavior at age 2 more aggressive and by age 3 appears to have slowed their socio-emotional development.
They also found that a low-income mother is most likely to start spanking a very fussy, irritable baby by the age of 1, and more likely still if the mother is depressed. Boys were spanked and yelled at more often than girls.
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The collective results suggest that the causes and effects of spanking are tightly bound together, making it difficult to tease out the influence of poverty, genetics, gender differences and cultural expectations when discussing the controversial practice.
The American Academy of Pediatrics in 1998 issued a recommendation that parents find means to correct children's behavior other than corporal punishment.
A large body of evidence suggests the practice is seldom effective and may be harmful. But some in the African-American community have defended the practice, citing research showing that while spanking may make white children more aggressive, the practice makes black children less so.
