Mind and Body in the Classroom
A new study shows corporal punishment harms children’s ability to learn
Stephanie Carlson
In a new study, children in a school that uses corporal punishment performed significantly worse than those in a school that relies on milder discipline such as time-outs.
The findings suggest that a harshly punitive environment may have long-term detrimental effects on children’s executive-functioning ability—those cognitive skills involved in self-control and problem-solving. As a result, children exposed to a harshly punitive environment may be at risk for behavioral problems related to deficits in executive function.
Stephanie Carlson, associate professor in the Institute of Child Development, conducted the study with Canadian colleagues Victoria Talwar of McGill University in Montreal and Kang Lee of the University of Toronto.
The study included 63 children in kindergarten or first grade at two West African private schools. Their families lived in the same urban neighborhood, and parents were mostly civil servants, professionals, and merchants.
In one school, discipline in the form of beating with a stick, slapping of the head, and pinching was administered publicly and routinely for offenses ranging from forgetting a pencil to being disruptive in class.
In the other school, children were disciplined for similar offenses with the use of time-outs and verbal reprimands.
Overall performance on executive-functioning tasks—planning, abstract thinking, delayed gratification—was similar in the younger children from both schools. But the first-grade children in the school that did not use corporal punishment scored significantly higher than those in the school that did.
The results are consistent with research findings that punitive discipline may make children immediately compliant but may reduce the likelihood that they will internalize rules and standards. That, in turn, may result in lower self-control as children get older.
The study was published July 26, 2011, in the journal Social Development.
Widespread relevance
The findings have widespread relevance for education in the United States, says Carlson.
“Nineteen states still allow corporal punishment in schools, although more of them are now asking for parent permission to use it,” she says. “With this new evidence that the practice might actually undermine children’s cognitive skills needed for self-control and learning, parents and policymakers can be better informed.”
Despite the age-old debate over the effects of corporal punishment, few studies have examined the effects on executive-functioning ability. The new study uses a quasi-experimental design to derive data from a naturally occurring situation in which children were exposed to two different disciplinary environments. The parents of children in both schools endorsed physical punishment equally, suggesting that the school environment can account for the differences found.
“The study demonstrates that corporal punishment does not teach children how to behave or improve their learning,” says Talwar. “In the short term, it may not have any negative effects, but if relied upon over time, it does not support children’s problem-solving skills or their abilities to inhibit inappropriate behavior or to learn.
What’s next
Many further questions remain unanswered.
“We are now examining whether being in a punitive environment day in and day out will have other negative impacts on children, such as lying or other covert antisocial behaviors,” says Lee. “Also, we are pursuing the long-term consequences of experiencing corporal punishment. For example, what would children’s cognitive and social development be five or ten years down the road?”
