I haven't read the last two pages of responses yet, but from what I can tell, I am with Xurtio here. When I first revived this old thread, it was because I read a meta study that again confirms what previous studies have found; physical punishment such as spanking is an ineffective way of altering behaviour and has negative consequences such as an increase in mental disorders. A meta study means it's actually a study on the results of previous studies and this particular one covers about five decades worth of research into the subject. As such, it carries more weight than many other studies you might find out there. The number of kids involved in this meta study was more than 160 000. That's a lot of data.
Risks of Harm from Spanking Confirmed by Analysis of Five Decades of Research | UT News | The University of Texas at Austin
Chula (and others I guess) thinks the subject doesn't deserve a wide brush, but reading the study, it seems the broad brush is justified. It's not just kids who are brutalized who suffer the negative, unwanted consequences from physical punishment. Those who receive what many perceive as acceptable spanking f.ex also get them. The kids don't categorize, they just get hurt when they're subjected to violence from parents. Generally, the more they are hurt, the more negative consequences they will experience.
As I wrote previously, and which I've also read in a New Zealand study some years ago, is that because phyical punishment is ineffective, parents will often try to increase the intensity of the violence to compensate for the lack of effectiveness. In other words, there's a slippery slope effect and so a ban on all physical punishment would also be preventive - to stop light punishment from turning into more severe punishment.
Blankmind, with your anecdotal ways, it seems like you just don't understand studies and how they are relevant. Sure different kids may respond differently to spanking, but studies like this one shows that most of them are affected in predictable, unwanted, negative ways. That means that if you subject a kid to a spanking regime, that kid is most likely going to take some damage from that and it's likely that one can predict what that damage will be. If you want f.ex legislation to better the health of the population, that's something to take into account.
edit:
Chula,
The more children are spanked, the more likely they are to defy their parents and to experience increased anti-social behavior, aggression, mental health problems and cognitive difficulties
...
“Our analysis focuses on what most Americans would recognize as spanking and not on potentially abusive behaviors,”
...
“We as a society think of spanking and physical abuse as distinct behaviors,” she says. “Yet our research shows that spanking is linked with the same negative child outcomes as abuse, just to a slightly lesser degree.”
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