A recent study claims that children who are punished by spanking are more likely to turn agressive towards their partners, later on in life.
The University of Texas Medical Branch surveyed nearly 800 adults to understand whether being struck as a kid can lead to a more aggressive manner in behavior as a grown up.
The study found that most adults who behave violently in relationships were struck by their parents as youngsters.
While spanking is not entirely attributable to this behavior, it does provide new light on the fact that if a kid learns that the only solution to a conflict is by way of physical violence, they are likely to carry that forward into conflicts that may occur later on in life with their partners.
Researchers for the study asked 19- and 20- year-olds how often they had been struck, slapped, or spanked only to find a strong correlation between corporal punishment and dating violence.
Of the 758 that were questioned, nearly 68% claimed to have experienced corporal punishment as youngsters and around 19% admitted to violence towards their lovers.
The study’s lead author, Jeff Temple, a psychiatry professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch notes “Regardless of whether someone experienced child abuse or not, spanking alone was predictive of dating violence.”
Speaking to CNN, he stresses the necessity to determine what they considered punishment and what they considered abuse.
Temple defined child abuse as being hit with a belt, leaving noticeable bruises or requiring to go to a doctor or a hospital.
“Kids who said they had experienced corporal punishment were more likely to have recently committed dating violence.”
