Spanking and children's social competence: Evidence from a US kindergarten cohort study

• Published in: Child abuse & neglect 2022-10, Vol.132, p.105817-105817, Article 105817
• Main Author: Kang, Jeehye
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Bias; Causality; Child development; Children; Children & youth; Cohort analysis; Competence; Corporal punishment; Interpersonal Competence; Kindergarten; Kindergarten students; Risk factors; Selection bias; Self control; Social development; Social skills; Soft skills
• ISSN: 0145-2134; 1873-7757
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105817

Background: Spanking is a risk factor for children's social competency. However, establishing causality is a challenge, given selection bias in samples and the possibility of confounding the harms of excessive spanking with the effects of infrequent spanking. Objective: This study addressed these causality issues to strengthen the causal estimates of the links between spanking and children's social competency. Participants and setting: The study used longitudinal US kindergarten cohort data from children aged 5 to 7. Methods: The study used matching and lagged dependent variables to mitigate selection bias associated with lifetime (Ns = 17,171–17,537) and recent (Ns = 10,393–10,724) incidence of spanking. Cases in which spanking frequency exceeded two times a week were excluded. Sample sizes are provided in ranges due to the variations across multiple imputed samples. Results: Lifetime experience of spanking by age 5 was associated with higher externalizing behaviors at ages 6 and 7, and with lower self-control and interpersonal skills at age 6. A recent incidence of spanking at age 5 was associated with higher externalizing behaviors, lower self-control, and lower interpersonal skills at ages 6 and 7. These results remain significant after cases of frequent spanking were excluded. Conclusion: The results support the argument that spanking harms children's social development.