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Spanking Kids Increases Risk of Sexual Problems as Adults
Children who are spanked or victims of other corporal punishment are more likely to have sexual problems as a teen or adult, according to new research presented today by Murray Straus, co-director of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire.
Widely considered the foremost researcher in his field, Straus presented his new research findings at the American Psychological Association’s Summit on Violence and Abuse in Relationships: Connecting Agendas and Forging New Directions held Feb. 28 and 29 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Bethesda, MD.
Straus analyzed the results of four studies and found that spanking and other corporal punishment by parents is associated with an increased probability of three sexual problems as a teen or adult:
• Verbally and physically coercing a dating partner to have sex.
• Risky sex such as premarital sex without a condom.
• Masochistic sex such as being aroused by being spanked when having sex.
“These results, together with the results of more than 100 other studies, suggest that spanking is one of the roots of relationship violence and mental health problems. Because there is 93 percent agreement between studies that investigated harmful side effects of spanking, and because over 90 percent of U.S. parents spank toddlers, the potential benefits for prevention of sexual and relationship violence is large,” Straus says.
“Furthermore, because other research shows spanking is not more effective than other discipline methods, there is no need to expose children to the harmful effects of spanking. We can help prevent mental health problems and relationship violence from happening by a national health policy recommending never spanking,” he says.
Coerced Sex
A survey of more than 14,000 university students in 32 nations found that 29 percent of the male and 21 percent of the female students had verbally coerced sex from another person. Coerced sex involves insisting on sex when the partner does not want to, or threatening to end the relationship if the partner does not have sex.
The percentages of those who physically forced sex were much lower: 1.7 percent of the men and 1.2 percent of the women said they had used physical force, such as holding down the partner or hitting a partner to make them have sex.
“The most important finding of this study is that each increase of one step on a four-step measure of corporal punishment was associated with a 10 percent increase in the probability of verbal sexual coercion by men and a 12 percent increase in sexual coercion by women,” Straus says. “The relation of corporal punishment to physically forcing sex was even stronger. Each increase of one step in corporal punishment was associated with a 33 percent increase in the probability of men forcing sex and a 27 percent increase in the probability of women doing this.”
Risky Sex
In the second study, Straus analyzed the same sample of university students, but focused on whether they had insisted on sex without using a condom. Straus found that 15 percent of the men and 13 percent of the women had insisted on sex without a condom at least once in the past year.
Using the four-step corporal punishment scale, Straus found that of the group with the lowest score on the corporal punishment scale, 12.5 percent had insisted on unprotected sex. In contrast, 25 percent of students in the highest corporal punishment group engaged in this type of risky sex.
The third study analyzed data on 440 students in a New Hampshire high school. The students were divided into five groups, ranging from those who were never spanked to those whose parents used corporal punishment even when they were 13 years old and older. The study evaluated eight indicators of risky sex, such as more than one sex partner.
Straus found that students who had experienced corporal punishment had engaged in more risky sexual behavior than students who had not been spanked. From this study, Straus concludes that corporal punishment weakens the bond between the child and the parents. He believes that this alienation from parents may make teenagers less likely to avoid sex and less likely to follow safe sex practices.
Masochistic Sex
In the fourth study, Straus asked 207 students at three colleges about whether they had ever been sexually aroused by masochistic sex: imagining that they were being tied up when having sex, engaging in rough sex, or by spanking, and if they had been sexually aroused by actually doing these three things.
"The core idea of this study is that being spanked by loving parents confuses love with violence, which increases the probability that violence will be part of making love,” Straus says.
The study found that 75 percent of students who had been spanked a lot by their parents were sexually aroused by masochistic sex. In contrast, 40 percent of students who had never been spanked were interested in masochistic sex.
"What is new about this study is a scientific test of the idea that being spanked as a child inclines people to want to be spanked when having sex, and that this is especially likely to be true when there is a combination of lots of spanking and lots of love," Straus says.
Reducing Spanking
To reduce the use of corporal punishment, Straus recommends that the American Psychological Association, the U.S. Children's Bureau, and other organizations publicize a recommendation that parents should never spank.
“However, to make this work, we need to start by informing professionals who advise parents about the evidence-base for that policy. They need this information to be able to give appropriate information and help to parents about replacing spanking with positive discipline to correct misbehavior,” he says.
Submitted by BJS on Fri, 2008-02-29 11:47.
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no words
Someone should spank BJ for posting something so idiotic.
Risk reasonable: Limbic System is center for Anger, Rage and Sex
Given this anatomical closeness of amygdala and hypothalamus, with both involved in rage/anger/sexual response isn't it reasonable to think that one feeling could infuse another?
Isn't it reasonable to think a severe spanking could enrage a child, whatever the reason, and that rage carry over into other feelings, especially if he/she is a frequent recipient of such violence?
If the reason is to change behavior, corporal punishment may work in the short term, but what does it actually teach the child? It certainly doesn't teach him/her that thinking is a desirable trait, just physical coerction is. A thinking parent would control their reaction and restrain a small child and deprive an older child,for instance. Both take more effort and discipline on the part of the parent. Not being perfect parents, we may not always achieve this discipline within ourselves, because, indeed, it is not easy! But parenting is not about taking the easy way out and takes an enormous amount of discipline and isn't this the modeling we are suppose to show our child?
The True Masochistic
I am a true Masochist... spanking doesn't really count, spanking doesn't cause actual Physical pain... now being burned, bitten, slapped, and anything you can do to cause pain during sex, yeah, that's mosochism. My Parents beat the shit outta me when I was growing up, that might have something to do with my "lifestyle" but either way, I enjoy myself :).
Corporal Punishment
On the one hand virtually all sexual behavior should be accepted as normal or at least tolerated, never questioned or criticized. On the other hand these seemingly normal traits, curiously more often then not male traits, result allegedly by spanking, another predominantly male activity. I may be wrong but I think I see Feminism at work again.
Re:spanking
serious...corporal punishment and risky sex...risky sex defined as premarital sex w/o condoms. I don't understand why these 2 things would be related.
What's the real risk? Premarital sex or no condom (assuming with an unfamiliar partner). I mean let's be serious....premartial sex is common (always has been, so let's not start the bible-thumping like it's new) and sex w/o a condom....well. It feels good.
I think a better indicator od risky sexual behavior are minors and very young adults, say under the age of 21, who have had SEVERAL partners over a VERY short period of time, engage in sex with these unfamiliar partner w/o condoms, perhaps engaging in sex that could lead to other types of physical harm, eg. gang-bangs or trains, taking drugs and having sex. That's something realy risky...
I know it is all subjective, but c'mon.
DNLee
And what's wrong with being spanked?
A lot of people (women especially) like a little spanking action in the bedroom. Works for them, it works for me.
no peer review?
Why was this data not published in a peer-reviewed article, and why was this "expert" not even listed as a speaker at the above-mentioned APA summit? Further, where is the proof that having kinky sex is automatically bad?
I smell an agenda. And bad science.
Chris, DeKalb IL USA
worthless drek
The article is such worthless drek that it's hardly worth acknowledging. Percentages tell us nothing. What are the means and standard deviation? What are our sample sizes? What are out F ratios? Spouting out a bunch percentages with out references to these are worthless for truly understanding this sort of data.
And the sample data all comes from college students. Sampling only college students is hardly representative.
So he's maybe he's found that certain percentages of college students who were spanked as children have these tendencies? Just because there may be a correlation relationship (which we have no idea of just how strong that correlation it is) does not necessarily imply there is a causal one. There could be any number of other contributing factors, such prevalence of home violence, socioeconomic factors (we already know that these children come from homes with the ability and motivation to send them to college), religious and moral background, etc.
In order to say that corporal punishment leads to significant deviation in sexuality one must design a experiment to test this hypothesis. I very much doubt Straus gathered a random group of subjects as children and randomly assigned them to spanked and not spanked.
It also looks a lot like Straus taking any instance to mean trend:
In the fourth study, Straus asked 207 students at three colleges about whether they had ever been sexually aroused by masochistic sex: imagining that they were being tied up when having sex, engaging in rough sex, or by spanking, and if they had been sexually aroused by actually doing these three things.
Really? Ever? Even one random thought means one is a masochist?
And finally, what was the peer reviewed article Straus published this all in? Oh wait, he didn't. He presented at a conference. One that he's not even listed as a speaker at! A published write and foremost researcher in his field not being listed as a speaker he spoke at? And even if Straus was a last minute addition presenter, how was this information received by the other attendees at the conference? Did they accept it? Did they reject it?
-sable
Are you serious???
What perverted person takes the time to ask people if they were spanked and did they talk someone into having sex? You can go to a bar and talk someone into having sex. The problem with issues like this is they are "researched" by people with no kids or people that didn't really raise their own children (had a nanny). That's the problem with kids today. They dress weird, you say "they are expressing themselves". They draw pictures of devils and demons "go to the therapist". Not the fact that they could have saw the pictures in a book or on TV. Not that parents could say, "Are you crazy, you are not walking out of the house dressed like a clown". The problem is parents want to be their kids "super buddy" instead of being a parent. Yes, children need corporal punishment. If you say they don't, then you should say, no death penalty or life sentences for criminals. You spank your child in hopes of correcting their actions. Sometimes they do, sometimes you have to do more than spanking. If the child grows up with little to no consequences for their actions or severe enough punishments, what do you think will happen when that child is an adult? Good people are raised, not born.
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