14 DAY TRIAL // A group of scientists has recently established in a new investigation that kids who receive physical corrections or corporal punishments are more likely than their peers to have their congitive abilities harmed in the long run.
The new investigation was carried out on children in two schools in South Africa. Kids in the first school were generally being subjected to punishments, whereas the other were disciplined through other methods, such as for example time-outs.
When test participants were asked to complete tasks involving executive functioning, children in the first group performed a lot worse than their peers in the second group. The tasks involved the use of psychological processes such as planning, abstract thinking, and delaying gratification.
From the available data, the investigators conducted that children who are subjected to punishement in a physical sense are more likely to exhibit declining verbal intelligence, as well as impaired executive-functioning abilities, PsychCentral reports.
This correlation may lead to the development of behavioral problems later on in life for kids who are subjected to physical corrections. The investigation was conducted by experts in Canada and the US.
McGill University professor Victoria Talwar, University of Minnesota professor Stephanie M. Carlson and University of Toronto professor Kang Lee were the main researchers in charge of the study.
The 63 children their research effort included covered kindergarten and first grade students. These kids were at an age where external influences can cause long-lasting or permanent effects.
“This study demonstrates that corporal punishment does not teach children how to behave or improve their learning,” explains McGill investigator Victoria Talwar, PhD. Stick beatings, head slaps and pinching were the primary correction methods used in one of the schools.
“In the short term, it may not have any negative effects; but if relied upon over time it does not support children’s problem-solving skills, or their abilities to inhibit inappropriate behavior or to learn,” the expert goes on to say.
“In the US, 19 states still allow corporal punishment in schools, although more of them are now asking for parent permission to use it,” Carlson adds.
“With this new evidence that the practice might actually undermine children’s cognitive skills needed for self-control and learning, parents and policymakers can be better informed,” concludes the expert, who is also the lead author of the new study.
Details of the new work appear in the latest issue of the scientific journal Social Development.