Spanking may lower a child's IQ

A report was presented in San Diego on September 25th by a sociologist that suggests children who are spanked or physically punished have lower IQs. Murray Strauss along with his colleague from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation looked at 1,510 children — 806 kids ages 2 to 4, and 704 ages 5 to 9 over a period of 4 years. They "found that roughly three-quarters had endured some kind of corporal punishment in the previous two weeks, according to interviews with the mothers. Researchers measured the children's IQ initially, then again four years later. Those kids who hadn't been spanked in the initial survey period scored significantly better on intelligence and achievement tests than those who had been hit. " The connection between physical punishment and brain development is explained as fear and stress from the hitting which inhibits focus and learning. They even tracked countries that accept corporal punishment and the lower levels of IQs in those countries. Most of us know that hitting doesn't solve the problem or teach our children the lessons we want to teach them. But, now there is strong evidence to suggest we are truly doing our children a disservice by hitting them when they need discipline. For more information on this study, visit the time.com link to the article covering this story. There are also other sites who are covering these findings so you can simply google it.