Jul. 6, 2002. 01:00 AM

Study links spanking, aggression

NEW YORK (AP) - After analyzing six decades of expert research on corporal punishment, a psychologist says parents who spank their children risk causing long-term harm that outweighs the short-term benefit of instant obedience.

Psychologist Elizabeth Gershoff found links between spanking and 10 negative behaviours or experiences, including aggression, antisocial behaviour and mental health problems. The one positive result of spanking that she identified was quick compliance with parental demands.

"Americans need to re-evaluate why we believe it is reasonable to hit young, vulnerable children, when it is against the law to hit other adults, prisoners and even animals," Gershoff writes in the Psychological Bulletin, a journal of the American Psychological Association.

Her analysis, one of the most comprehensive ever on the topic of spanking in North America, was accompanied by a critique from three other psychologists.

They defend mild to moderate spanking as a viable disciplinary option, especially for children ages 2 to 6, but advise parents with abusive tendencies to avoid spanking altogether.

Gershoff, a researcher at Columbia University's National Centre for Children in Poverty, spent five years on her project, analysing 88 studies of corporal punishment conducted since 1938.

She urges parents who spank to reconsider their options. "When they're in a situation where they're considering spanking, think of something else to do — leave the room, count to 10, and come back again. The risk is just too great."

Robert Larzelere, a psychology professor at the Nebraska Medical Centre, critiqued Gershoff's findings. He remains convinced that mild, non-abusive spanking can be an effective reinforcement of non-physical disciplinary methods. But he shared concerns about spanking that is too severe or too frequent.

Gershoff cautions that her findings do not imply that all children who are spanked turn out to be aggressive or delinquent. But she contends that corporal punishment, on its own, does not teach children right from wrong and may not deter them from misbehaving when their parents are absent.

"Until researchers, clinicians and parents can definitively demonstrate the presence of positive effects of corporal punishment, including effectiveness in halting future misbehaviour, not just the absence of negative effects, we as psychologists can not responsibly recommend its use," she wrote.