New research published in Psychiatric Quarterly provides insight into the relationship between child abuse and aggression in adulthood. Specifically, the study found that childhood physical abuse, but not spanking, was linked to adult dating violence.
While spanking as a form of child discipline is condemned by both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association, the literature on non-abusive spanking remains inconsistent. While some studies have linked spanking to harmful outcomes, other studies have found limited evidence for the negative effects of spanking.
Study author Christopher J. Ferguson explains that this lack of consensus might have to do with whether or not past studies have properly differentiated between the effects of spanking and the effects of more serious physical abuse. Ferguson was particularly interested in one study that produced perplexing results. The study by Temple and associates (2018) found that spanking, but not exposure to physical child abuse, predicted adult dating violence.
“This puzzling finding is difficult to fully explain,” Ferguson muses, “Why would children be more inclined to learn violence from less serious physical discipline than more serious, abusive physical discipline?”
Ferguson sought to replicate the 2018 study with a new sample while following similar methodology and data analysis. Ferguson’s sample included 509 young adults with an average age of 21 years old, who were either currently in a relationship or had been in a relationship within the past year. As in the Temple et. al study, subjects responded to a questionnaire that had them answer questions about their childhood experiences and about their current relationship.
To assess childhood spanking/punishment, both studies used the question “How often did your parents/guardians discipline you by slapping, spanking, or striking you with an object?”. Respondents also completed several items from the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire to assess exposure to physical abuse, with a focus on severe physical beatings. Finally, dating violence was assessed with four items addressing “hitting, slapping, pushing or throwing objects at dating partners.”
Interestingly, results from the Ferguson study were contrary to Temple and associates’ findings. Ferguson found that exposure to physical abuse in childhood was associated with adulthood dating violence, but childhood spanking was not. However, regression analysis found that when the effect of physical abuse was removed, spanking emerged as a significant predictor. This finding, Ferguson explains, suggests that if spanking is related to adult violence, the relationship can be explained by child abuse.
“Arguably,” Ferguson relates, “the results from the current reanalysis are more plausible. Even were spanking to be associated with adult violent behaviors, it certainly would be expected that child abuse would also be associated with such outcomes, arguably more strongly…Ultimately, it does not seem inherently credible that actual child physical abuse would have little impact on adult aggression.”
Ferguson expresses that it is still uncertain whether spanking contributes to adult aggression over and above child abuse. He argues the importance of differentiating between spanking and other, more severe forms of physical abuse. “Undoubtedly, parents who physically abuse their child also often spank them. Thus, failing to control for physical abuse may create spurious correlations between spanking and adult aggression that are actually due to child physical abuse exposure.”
Ferguson acknowledges the limitation that both his and Temple et. al’s studies measured spanking with an item that might have equated spanking with more severe types of physical punishment. The studies also relied on adults’ recollection of past exposure to abuse, possibly warping the results.
The study author ends, “It is recommended that conclusions drawn between non-abusive spanking and adult aggression may not be reliable based on current data.”
The study, “Child Abuse, Spanking and Adult Dating Violence: A Replication Study of Temple et al., 2018”, was authored by Christopher J. Ferguson.