REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH
CM-CAH Report 1-A-07
Subject: Corporal Punishment
Presented by: Jason Terk, MD, FACCP, Chair
Referred to: Reference Committee on Public Health
Corporal punishment is defined as intentional application of physical pain as a method of changing behavior. It includes such methods as hitting, slapping, spanking, punching, kicking, pinching, shaking, shoving, choking, use of various objects (wooden paddles, belts, sticks, pins), painful body postures (placing in closed spaces), use of excessive exercise drills, or prevention of urine or stool elimination. Corporal punishment does not refer to the occasional need of a school official to restrain a dangerous student or use physical force as a means of protecting members of the school community from imminent danger. [1]
Texas is one of 23 states that continue to authorize corporal punishment in schools. There remains a strong opinion in the United States favoring corporal punishment in schools. A 1985 poll indicated that 47 percent of the American population and 60 percent of school officials deemed such punishment as acceptable. [2]
The Society of Adolescent Medicine states that the vast majority of the evidence indicates that corporal punishment is an ineffective method of discipline and has major deleterious effects on the physical and mental health of those inflicted. [3] Current research in behavior modification indicates that using positive reinforcement techniques is more efficacious and long-lasting than methods utilizing aversion techniques. [4] Additionally, best evidence indicates that children and adolescents subjected to corporal punishment are more likely to utilize violence in their own families in the future. [5]
American Academyof Pediatrics. Committee on School Health. Corporal Punishment in Schools
Abstract: The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that corporal punishment in schools be abolished in all states by law and that alternative forms of student behavior be used.
AMA Policy H-515.995 Corporal Punishment in Schools
The AMA (1) supports the abolition of corporal punishment in schools; (2) encourages universities that train teachers to emphasize alternative forms of discipline during their training; (3) encourages physicians to work toward the abolition of corporal punishment in their communities; (4) encourages state medical societies to support legislation prohibiting corporal punishment in their state; (5) encourages parents and school personnel in those districts that have abolished corporal punishment to ensure the implementation of existing policies; (6) supports providing information to physicians and medical societies for use in the abolition of corporal punishment; and (7) supports working with the American Academy of Pediatrics to implement these policies. (BOT Rep. AA, A-85; Reaffirmed CLRPD Rep. 2, I-95; Reaffirmed CSA Rep. 8, A-05)
Recommendation: Because the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend corporal punishment be abolished in schools and encourages the use of alternative forms of student behavior management that the Texas Medical Association (1) support the abolition of corporal punishment in schools; and (2) encourage teacher training to emphasize alternative forms of discipline.
[1] Society of Adolescent Medicine. Corporal Punishment in Schools. Journal of Adolescent Health 2003: 32:385-393.
[3] Hyman, IA. Using research to change public policy: Reflections on 20 years of effort to eliminate corporal punishment in schools. Pediatrics 1996; 98 (Suppl): 818-21.
[4] Bongiovani AF. A review of research on the effects of punishment: Implications for corporal punishment in schools, in National Institute of Education. Proceedings: Conference on Corporal Punishment in Schools: A National Debate, February 18-20, 1977. U.S. Government Printing Office, 779 222/565, 1977.
[5] Gershoff ET. Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychol Bull 2002;128:539-79.
TMA House of Delegates: TexMed 2007