A new study suggests that substance abuse and depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders are more common in children who were physically punished (without meeting the legal definition of child abuse).
From the abstract:
Harsh physical punishment in the absence of child maltreatment is associated with mood disorders, anxiety disorders, substance abuse/dependence, and personality disorders in a general population sample. These findings inform the ongoing debate around the use of physical punishment and provide evidence that harsh physical punishment independent of child maltreatment is related to mental disorders.
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Comments on: "Spanking causes mental illness in kids" (2)
Nothing new there. But, of course, watch ’em whine about how criticizing parents for afflicting physical damage upon children is taking away their parental rights and whatnot.
Exactly. Most of the wingnut “parental rights” movement can, in my experience, pretty be summed up by (1) the right to abuse (corporal punishment); (2) the right to deny healthcare (like contraceptives, etc); and the right to deny education (like evolution or sex ed).