I've found it interesting that every year since I began teaching at the college level (in 1993), when I ask how many of my Human Development and Child Psychology students were ever spanked, the numbers become smaller. In 1993 when I would ask that question, maybe one or two out of a class of 40 or 50 would say they'd never been spanked. It was so unusual that heads would turn to check out this strange creature, and the person was often asked, "So how did your parents discipline you?"
But over the years, as the number of the "unspanked" increased, I've found that more and more students marvel that there are parents who did spank. (Remember that most of these students would have been children in the early nineties.) It's my understanding that spanking is more commonly accepted in Southern states - at least, according to http://www.childinjurylawyerblog.com/2009/08/spanking_in_tennessee_and_sout_1.html, it's still legal within many of the school systems. And a study done as long ago as 1996, entitled "Regional differences in spanking experiences and attitudes: A comparison of northeastern and southern college students," by Clifton Flynn, found exactly this: that students in northeastern colleges were less likely to have been spanked and less likely to approve than students in southern colleges. It appeared in Journal of Family Violence<javascript:__doLinkPostBack('','ss~~JN%20%22Journal%20of%20Family%20Violence%22%7C%7Csl~~rl','');>, Vol 11(1), Mar, 1996. pp. 59-80. Beth Benoit Granite State College Plymouth State University New Hampshire On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 1:41 PM, Michael Britt < michael.br...@thepsychfiles.com> wrote: > In the latest episode of my podcast I interviewed the author of a > great parenting book: Raising Children You Can Live With. Although > the author discuss a lot of great ideas regarding how to interact with > your child, it seems that my brief thoughts regarding the > ineffectiveness of spanking is getting the most response. There's an > interesting comment on the episode from a listener who strongly feels > that spanking is needed in response to certain behaviors. You'll see > my response as well. Also, I feel there's a nice "marriage" I think > between behavioristic and humanistic philosophies in the author's > approach to dealing with undesirable behavior from children. Since > spanking is an experience that most students have had, the episode > could make for an interesting discussion or homework around these two > different approaches to modifying a child's behavior. If you want to > check it out: > > http://bit.ly/vj4dZ > > Michael > > -- > Michael Britt, Ph.D. > Host of The Psych Files podcast > www.thepsychfiles.com > mich...@thepsychfiles.com > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) > --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)