A new study by the University of New Hampshire claims that spanking children makes them more likely to break the law later in life.
The university surveyed 15 cities and countries for the study: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Norway, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Israel, Canada and the U.S.
While conducting the survey researchers took into account factors such as the parental education level, whether the parents were loving and positive, and the student's age, gender and country, reported Discovery News.
A higher occurrence of criminal behavior (which was defined as stealing money, assaulting a romantic partner, or attacking someone with the intent to hurt them) increased in children who were spanked despite their family life.
These findings show that children who grew up in homes with loving and helpful parents who spanked them for discipline ended up showing higher rates of criminal behavior.
"It means it's not as harmless as many parents may think," reported Anthony Carboni summed up in a Discovery News video.
