Research Catching Up With Adler

A recent AP news story titled "Study: Spanking Children Causes 'Boomerang,'" describes a study that concludes "When parents use corporal punishment to reduce antisocial behavior, the longterm effects tend to be the opposite." The study also claims that "Many people, probably most people, believe that if spanking is done by warm and loving parents, it has no harmful side effects, because kids know it is for their own good. That turns out not to be true." Finally, the study states "Considering antisocial behavior in childhood is associated with violence and other crime as an adult, society as a whole, and not just children, could benefit from ending the system of violent childrearing that goes under the euphemism of spanking."

It is amazing how long it takes research to catch up with Adler's ideas. He wrote and lectured about these concepts in the 1920's and 1930's.

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