Are you a sexual pervert? That's because your parents spanked you while you were a child. These are the results of four studies and a meta-analysis presented at the American Psychological Association's Summit on Violence and Abuse in Relationships.

"Something experienced by many American kids gets an average of half a page in child development text books and not a single one comes to the conclusion that parents should never spank," said Murray Straus, a spanking expert, co-director of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire, in Durham, and author of the four studies.

The meta-analysis of spanking studies was made by Elizabeth Gershoff, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan's School of Social Work. 93% of the researches pointed that spanking can lead to issues like delinquent and anti-social behavior in childhood, along with aggression, criminal and anti-social behavior and spousal or child abuse as an adult.

"There's probably nothing else in child development that has 93% agreement in results. 5% of people who have never been spanked hit their partners, versus 25% of those who were spanked frequently. However, some 90% of US parents spank toddlers," said Straus.

Spanking and other corporal punishment is connected with a higher probability of verbally and physically forcing a dating partner to have sex; risky sexual behavior like premarital sex without using a condom; and masochistic sexual behavior, like spanking during intercourse.

"The more parents spank, the higher the probability of harmful side effects. If a person says, 'I was spanked, and I don't have any interest in bondage and discipline sex, that's correct, but it's not because spanking is OK, it's because they're one of the lucky ones," said Straus.

And spanking appears to be addictive.

"The trouble is, if you have a two-year-old, you pretty soon decide you can't avoid it. The recidivism rate for whatever 'crime' you correct a two-year-old for is about 50% in two hours. I have come to the conclusion that parents should never, ever spank because, although it does work, it's no better than non-hitting methods that don't have harmful side effects," said Straus.