A recent American study attracting the global attention suggests that teenagers who were spanked until the age of six performed slightly better than those who have never been beaten.

The study was carried out on a group of 179 teenagers and almost a quarter of them had never experienced spanking. It has not yet been published.

The observation was made that the teenagers who were never hit during their childhood did not fare better than those who were spanked until the age of six.

It was discovered by Marjorie Gunnoe, a psychology professor at Calvin College, that spanking children 12 and older is “very bad” but that corporal punishment for children under six showed few positive effects but no negative ones.

She also added, “I am not advocating spanking. There are a fair amount of spanking researchers out here who want to present this very one-size fits all simple answer. I think that’s simply inappropriate.”

She thinks that the effect of spanking is not definite and it has different effect in different children. Some children are benefited by it but some are tremendously hurt. Therefore it has both good and bad effects.