UNH Speakers Bureau

Beating The Devil Out Of Them: Corporal Punishment In American Families and its Effects On Children (Book Title)

 

Program Description:

This book is based on studies of over 9,000 families. It describes how often parents spank and what happens as a result.It shows that although spanking does work to correct misbehavior in the immediate situation, in the long run it actually increases the chances of misbehavior. Spanking also increases the chances of harmful side effects such as the child becoming physically violent or depressed. Parents cannot see this because they have no way of knowing what will happen in the future. The research shows that although spanking does work, but contrary to what almost everyone believes, it does not work better than other methods of correcting misbehavior. Because other methods of correction work just as well (or just as badly) but do not have the harmful side effects, parents can leave out the spanking part of what they do, and children will be as well behaved or better, but with less chance of the harmful side effects. (Transaction Publishers, 2001)


Speaker:

Murray Straus

Murray Straus is an internationally renowned sociologist, professor of sociology and co-director of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire. His research interests include family, criminology, methodology, and comparative institutional analysis. Over the past 30 years, Dr. Straus has dedicated himself to the study of family violence and its relationship to violence in the larger society, and his work has become the cornerstone for a whole new field of sociology. His research has changed the way parents, educators, social workers, police and lawmakers look at the 'ordinary' violence that takes place in our homes, schools and neighborhoods every day.

Other topics offered by Murray Straus