Using Science to Drive Change

Parenting is a hard, important job that comes with no instruction manual. Parents rely on family, friends and the internet for advice on raising children, but a robust body of science on parenting also can help – particularly regarding discipline, says expert Elizabeth Gershoff, the Amy Johnson McLaughlin Centennial Professor in UT Austin’s Department of Human Development and Family Sciences. 

“It is incredibly gratifying when parents or schools or countries decide to forgo physical punishment on the basis of the scientific evidence.”

Gershoff has conducted two decades of research on the effects of physically punishing children. Her findings include that the more children are spanked, the more likely they are to become aggressive, engage in anti-social behavior and experience mental-health and cognitive difficulties. Gershoff later helped both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association implement policies stating that physical punishment is harmful and that their members should help parents learn other methods of discipline. Additionally, she co-edited a 2019 book summarizing evidence-based ways to reduce parents’ use of physical punishment. 

Nearly 60 countries have banned all physical punishment of children, and many consulted Gershoff’s research in the process. Invited by a number of countries’ governments to speak about her research, Gershoff also submitted policy briefs for countries that later implemented universal bans on physical punishment, including Scotland and Wales. Her research also brought change in the U.S., where physical punishment in public schools remains legal in Texas and 18 other states. The U.S. Department of Education cited her work in its call to end school corporal punishment, and three states since banned using physical punishment in schools on children with disabilities. 

Gershoff continues to work on this topic, noting, “It is incredibly gratifying when parents or schools or countries decide to forgo physical punishment on the basis of the scientific evidence.”