A study published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. has found that those who report being spanked as a child are more likely to have mental health issues later in life.
The study is unique because it looks solely at harsh physical punishment while excluding sexual and physical abuse severe enough to leave marks.
Researchers looked at data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions that surveyed more than 600 adults over the age of 20. Those who reported being punished through pushing, grabbing, shoving, slapping and hitting, but were not the victims of severe mistreatment, were two to seven percent more likely to have issues such as mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders and problems with drug and alcohol abuse.
A recent survey conducted in the United States has shown nearly half, 48 percent, of adults report having a history of physical punishment. Previous studies have shown a strong link between physical and sexual abuse and mental illness later in life.
“[T]he experience of physical punishment, even if not ‘physically abusive,’ may generate acute or chronic stress through experiences of anxiety, fear, and shame, among others, that are associated with physiologic and emotional dysregulation,” the study’s authors write.
You can read the entire study for free here.