Pediatricians and other health professionals concerned with the welfare of children and adolescents often provide advice to parents on the issue of discipline. Many parents perceive pediatricians as experts on how to raise children, which to varying degrees is a valid assumption; however, it should be acknowledged that much of our advice as pediatricians on child rearing is not based on formal training in developmental/behavioral pediatrics but rather on our own life experiences and values.

When counseling on discipline, we typically base our recommendations, consciously or subconsciously, on how we were disciplined as children. The underlying assumption is that we turned out well, and furthermore, those of us who are parents use disciplinary methods that are exemplary with our own children. Neither, of course, may be true, nor do all parents share the same goals for their children.

Therefore, it is not surprising that among pediatricians there are great differences of opinion on the optimal ways to discipline children. The major controversy surrounds the use of corporal punishment, ranging from those who believe that corporal punishment is a needed component of discipline, to those who oppose ever using corporal punishment. The former group includes those who quote religious scripture to support their “spare the rod and spoil the child” viewpoint. The latter group argues that “violence begets violence.” Nonetheless, there is agreement that physically injuring a child, that is, child abuse, is never to be sanctioned.

A reflection of this disagreement within the pediatric community perhaps is best illustrated by the difficulty and controversy surrounding the development by the American Academy of Pediatrics of a policy statement on the use of or avoidance of corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure. In an effort to resolve this controversy, the academy cosponsored a conference entitled “The Short and Long Term Consequences of Corporal Punishment” in February 1996.<sup>40 The short and long term consequences of corporal punishment Pediatrics 1996 ;  98 : suppl.

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This 2-day invitational conference brought together 23 participants representing the fields of sociology, psychology, and pediatrics. The task of this group was to assess the existing scientific evidence bearing on the consequences of corporal punishment, including the effectiveness of this form of discipline compared with other methods of modifying the behavior of children. From dialogue following formal presentations and responses, which were prepared prior to the meeting, a series of consensus statements regarding corporal punishment were developed.

Early in the conference, the participants decided to limit the discussion of corporal punishment to spanking, defined as physically noninjurious, intended to modify behavior, and administered with an open hand to extremities or buttocks. The Conference participants did not define abuse, and when we sought one for this review, we discovered that the term is defined in many different ways. Each state has a legal definition, researchers have defined and operationalized it differently, policies on child abuse and spouse abuse use different standards, and the American Academy of Pediatrics has not yet recommended one definition.

This article reviews the scientific literature on corporal punishment as well as summarizes the proceedings of the conference.