According to a study, mothers who spank their 3-year-olds might be mounting their children's possibility of violent behavior, like bullying, by the time they turn 5.

The study that came out in the May issue of Pediatrics, adds to proof implying that spanking and other kinds of physical punishment set kids up for aggressive behaviors later in life.

Study Researcher, Catherine A. Taylor, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Community Health Sciences at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, tells WebMD, "Children need guidance and discipline; however, parents should focus on positive, non-physical forms of discipline and avoid the use of spanking".

Taylor and associates asked around 2,500 moms how frequently they had slapped their 3-year-old child in the past month. Almost half of the mothers said that they had not spanked their kids during the previous month, 27.9% said that they spanked their 3-year-old once or twice within the last month, while 26.5% said that they smacked their child more than twice in the past month.

The researchers also inquired mothers about their kid's hostile behavior, for example, if they were bullies, malicious, mean, destructive, and/or liable to getting into brawls with others at age 3 and again at age 5.

Patricia Hametz, MD, Director of the Injury and Violence Prevention Center and Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University, said that this study emphasizes that any type of violence or physical hostility at home is an additional risk factor for children getting more violent in the future.

Hametz told WebMD that a good way is to appreciate and reward good behavior.