Spanking Kids: IQ Lower For Children Who Were Spanked: Study (VIDEO)

A new study suggests that spanking children can significantly lower their IQs.

The study, involving hundreds of U.S. children, showed the more a child was spanked, the lower his or her IQ compared with others.

"All parents want smart children," said study researcher Murray Straus of the University of New Hampshire. "This research shows that avoiding spanking and correcting misbehavior in other ways can help that happen."

On the Today Show Friday morning, Matt Lauer talked with NBC's chief medical editor, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, about the research and the implications of the work.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Comments

[Ziona Etzion]

11:14 AM on 09/27/2009

I ask you!

Would you open up to someone who was likely
to give you a slap for your opinion.

By talking to them you are teaching them
to understand themselves and voice their
feelings.

They are also learning to observe a role model.

[unique519]

02:20 PM on 09/28/2009

We are talking about spanking, not abuse!

[JIzin]

08:50 PM on 10/05/2009

Spanking is abuse!

[PresidentRobertBooth]

09:24 PM on 09/26/2009

I was never spanked, and aside from that attempted arson conviction a few years back, I turned out fine.



No, in all seriousness, perhaps children who weren't spanked have a higher IQ because their parents actually took the time to explain to them why they shouldn't do something, which engages their minds.

Rather than just beating a child and putting fear into them.

[gedankensindfrei]

03:38 PM on 09/26/2009

Only 23 of the UN's 192 countries legally ban physical violence against children. To grow up and live free from violence is a basic and vital human right. Murray Straus' groundbreaking research makes clear in what danger children are who are not loved but abused. They are marked for life by the consequences of traumatic experiences which violence causes for the human body, soul and mind.
The human brain is a use-dependent organ which learns through experience and is not a fully developed organ at birth. Its development during the first years is dramatic, and formative for life. By age 3, already 90% of a child's brain development has taken place as the synapsis between the neurons, the brain cells, are mostly built during these crucial first years.
Murray Straus and others, like the neurobiologists Bruce Perry and Martin Teicher, share vitally important research. We all MUST LEARN from their scientific knowledge, LEARN how to care with respect and love for children so that they never become powerless, defenseless objects of humiliating and perilous violence. Beaten children often will act out (self) destructively, their potential is impeded, and they become unable to make healthy decisions. Every time an adult strikes a child, trust is betrayed, the child's well-being is not cared for, his or her health and safety are not protected and the child's life is endangered.

[Two Cents]

04:44 PM on 09/26/2009

. . . thank you so much for saying this so well.

[Two Cents]

09:22 AM on 09/26/2009

. . . I don't think that the study proved causation, as such, (which, after all, is difficult to prove in any case), but there is a significant correlation *internationally*, so it is certainly not a study to be either lightly dismissed (5 IQ points is a significant gap) or left "as is." The study cries out for further study. In the meantime, IMHO corperal punishment just is Neanderthal (not to say that there aren't plenty of adults I'd be happy to wack...but Neanderthal is Neanderthal). My $0.02.

[ThinkCreeps]

07:49 AM on 09/26/2009

Proposal causal link: parents who spank have their brains in their a$$.

[ThinkCreeps]

07:35 AM on 09/26/2009

Parents who spank have lower IQs, so it's a lose-lose.

[dlet]

07:27 AM on 09/26/2009

I call bull. This study doesn't give info on the parents situation and she says that but doesn't acknowledge it. She brushes it off.

[KIVPossum]

04:38 AM on 09/26/2009

I'm going to call BS on this one. Children have been spanked for millenia. The concept of raising kids without using corporal punishment is a fairly recent thing.

Following the logic of this 'survey' one could say humankind has retarded intelligence for centuries.

[ThinkCreeps]

07:48 AM on 09/26/2009

Re: logic.

Quite. That's a good thing how?

[JIzin]

08:58 AM on 09/26/2009

These last 100 yrs are a totally new development in human history. No longer are there only a few people at the top who have all the wealth and power. Now everyone (for sake of argument) is free and has basic rights and the ability to create their own destiny. At no other time was this the case. So in the past millenia the rulers would use violence to maintain control of the larger population and if encouraging violence curbed cognitive development all the better!

And as a side note, which group of people here in America favors child mutilation, and corporal punishment?? Its our not so friendly religious fundamentalists and they make up the core of the present day Republican party. There is food for thought.

[dadw5boys]

03:03 AM on 09/26/2009

Poor Obama, Samuel Clemets, Einstien, Henry Ford, Thomas Jefferson, and so many thousand other Americans did not even know they had low IQ's. How did the world advance this far with all these low IQ people ?

I disagree. Beating a kid I is wrong on any terms, but spanking when they are very young gives the child limits they understand without question they understand action reaction.

This early discpline Prevents OPEN BATTLE with Teenagers when they need your guidence the most.

Out of control Teenagers will not make it easy for you to protect them from themselves !!!!!
That is why they need that early discpline that is stern but not harmful.
Got 4 in college and doing fine with 2 more in high school.

[ThermoChemist]

01:20 AM on 09/26/2009

Many Conservatives may not like this study.

From the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible:
Prov 13:24: "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes (diligently)."

Prov 19:18: "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying."

Prov 22:15: "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."

Prov 23:13: "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die."

Prov 23:14: "Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell (Shoel)."

Prov 29:15: "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."

The "Spare the rod; spoil the child" meme MAY have to be rethought; as it may have positive repercussions (?!?)

: )

[ThinkCreeps]

07:33 AM on 09/26/2009

How scary. Do you mean god is wrong!!? Unprecedented

[ThermoChemist]

01:12 AM on 09/26/2009

-- My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE .
'If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.'

-- My mother taught me RELIGION.
'You better pray that will come out of the carpet.'

-- My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL .
'If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!'

-- My mother taught me LOGIC.
'Because I said so, that's why.'

-- My mother taught me IRONY
'Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about.'

-- My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS ..
'Shut your mouth and eat your supper.'

-- My mother taught me about STAMINA.
'You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone.'

-- My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
'I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.'

-- My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
'Just wait until we get home.'

-- My mother taught me about RECEIVING .
'You are going to get it when you get home!'

-- My mother taught me HUMOUR .
'When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me.'

-- My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT .
'If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up.'

-- My mother taught me about JUSTICE
'One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you.

[CoconutLime]

12:57 AM on 09/26/2009

I say BS on this study because as a kid I was spanked a lot. My IQ is 146. Next...

[dadw5boys]

03:13 AM on 09/26/2009

lol 143 and I got spanked but I needed to be pulled back from the edge often. I had no fear and that turned into reckless behavior sometimes.

[bluecollarblogger]

11:49 PM on 09/25/2009

This is great, now we have a study that tells us that not only are those of us who were spanked less intelegent but now we have impowered educators with a tool to stereotype a weak student even more. Now a child who is weak in school is going to be recomended to a counselor who will delve into his family life and find out if his mom and dad spank him. Next we will have the family in the office telling them that their value system is distorted and that their parenting methods are wrong. I thought that we came to this country 400 years ago to live with the religious freedom which we were being denied. In our smelting pot of diverse cultures, values and ethnicity it seems that we pick and choose what libertys and what values we will have citizens to have.

[berrycooda]

11:00 PM on 09/25/2009

Maybe the ones who are getting spanked is because they don't know how to behave and sit still and learn.

I doubt if it is the spanking that is lowering the IQ.
Maybe just warming the seat for them so they will stay in it and pay attention.

[olddognewtrick]

09:16 PM on 09/25/2009

Ohhh...sorry wrong spanking post.

[ForVivi]

02:34 AM on 09/26/2009

And spankers can get in a heap of trouble when talking about it near a live mic...

http://www.mofopolitics.com/2009/09/09/video-california-assemblyman-caught-on-hot-mic-bragging-about-sex-with-spanking-lobbyist/