Flutterby™! : Reasoning with children works

Associations between 11 parental discipline behaviours and child outcomes across 60 countries

Conclusions: Psychological and physical aggression were disadvantageous for children's socioemotional development across countries. Only verbal reasoning was associated with positive child socioemotional development. No form of psychological aggression or physical aggression benefited child socioemotional development in any country. Greater emphasis should be dedicated to reducing parental use of psychological and physical aggression across cultural contexts.

doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-058439.

Research Brief: Is Your Child Misbehaving? Try Reasoning With Them

These results are consistent with a recent study of U.S. families that found that young children who receive harsh physical discipline, such as spanking, are more likely to exhibit aggressive, impulsive, or antisocial behaviors. Researchers following American mothers and their children from birth to age 9 found that children who were spanked had higher levels of these “externalizing behavior problems” at later ages—with the effects more consistent and longer lasting among families facing economic hardship.