Whether spanking is helpful or harmful to children continues to be the source of considerable debate among both researchers and the public. This article addresses 2 persistent issues, namely whether effect sizes for spanking are distinct from those for physical abuse, and whether effect sizes for spanking are robust to study design differences. Meta-analyses focused specifically on spanking were conducted on a total of 111 unique effect sizes representing 160,927 children. Thirteen of 17 mean effect sizes were significantly different from zero and all indicated a link between spanking and increased risk for detrimental child outcomes. Effect sizes did not substantially differ between spanking and physical abuse or by study design characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record

Exposure to childhood adversity has an impact on adult mental health, increasing the risk for depression and suicide. Associations between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and several adult mental and behavioral health outcomes are well documented in the literature, establishing the need for prevention. The current study analyzes the relationship between an expanded ACE score that includes being spanked as a child and adult mental health outcomes by examining each ACE separately to determine the contribution of each ACE. Data were drawn from Wave II of the CDC-Kaiser ACE Study, consisting of 7465 adult members of Kaiser Permanente in southern California. Dichotomous variables corresponding to each of the 11 ACE categories were created, with ACE score ranging from 0 to 11 corresponding to the total number of ACEs experienced. Multiple logistic regression modeling was used to examine the relationship between ACEs and adult mental health outcomes adjusting for sociodemographic covariates. Results indicated a graded dose-response relationship between the expanded ACE score and the likelihood of moderate to heavy drinking, drug use, depressed affect, and suicide attempts in adulthood. In the adjusted models, being spanked as a child was significantly associated with all self-reported mental health outcomes. Over 80% of the sample reported exposure to at least one ACE, signifying the potential to capture experiences not previously considered by traditional ACE indices. The findings highlight the importance of examining both cumulative ACE scores and individual ACEs on adult health outcomes to better understand key risk and protective factors for future prevention efforts.

This study examined the associations of 11 discipline techniques with children's aggressive and anxious behaviors in an international sample of mothers and children from 6 countries and determined whether any significant associations were moderated by mothers' and children's perceived normativeness of the techniques. Participants included 292 mothers and their 8-to 12-year-old children living in China, India, Italy, Kenya, Philippines, and Thailand. Parallel multilevel and fixed effects models revealed that mothers' use of corporal punishment, expressing disappointment, and yelling were significantly related to more child aggression symptoms, whereas giving a time out, using corporal punishment, expressing disappointment, and shaming were significantly related to greater child anxiety symptoms. Some moderation of these associations was found for children's perceptions of normativeness.The study of parents' disciplinary practices has been central to developmental psychology for at least the last half century, tracing back to Sears, Maccoby, and Levin's landmark book, Patterns of Child Rearing (1957). Their study of several hundred White working-and middleclass parents in and around Boston in the 1950's provided the first detailed data on what discipline techniques parents use, why they use them, and how discipline is linked with children's behaviors. Theirs was one of the first studies to document that, contrary to predictions that controlling parents would have better-behaved children; in fact the opposite was true. In the ensuing 50 years, researchers have taken these same themes and tested relations among Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Elizabeth T. Gershoff, University of Michigan School of Social Work, 1080 S. University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Electronic mail may be sent to liztg@umich.edu.. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptChild Dev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 March 1. Published in final edited form as:Child Dev. 2010 March ; 81(2): 487-502. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01409.x. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript them in increasingly sophisticated models. What the field has not done consistently is to expand the populations of interest beyond families in the U.S., or, in many cases, beyond White, middle class parents.The over-reliance on children and parents from North America in research on parenting has led to the criticism that the theories and recommendations developed from North American samples are not universal (as they are often assumed to be) and may not apply to parents and children in other countries and cultures (Dasen & Mishra, 2000;Rogoff, 2003). Cultures differ in the value they place on different child qualities and behaviors and in their beliefs about which parenting practices will promote these qualities and behaviors (Bornstein, 1995;Mistry, Chaudhuri, & Diez, 2003;Ripoll-Nuñez & Rohner, 2006;Super & Harkness, 1986). Cultures also differ in their evaluations of what parenting practices are consider...

CCMs can improve mental and physical outcomes for individuals with mental disorders across a wide variety of care settings, and they provide a robust clinical and policy framework for care integration.