With Spanking, Nature and Nurture Create More Aggression, Study Suggests
Physical discipline seen to make problem worse in boys with certain genetic tendencies.
Using spanking as a method of discipline for kids who have a genetic predisposition to aggressive behavior likely makes them even more aggressive, especially boys, new research suggests.
“There’s an intricate interplay between nature and nurture,” said study co-author J.C. Barnes, an assistant professor of criminology at the University of Texas at Dallas School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences. “Most people know that genes matter, but genes and environment can coalesce, and we see things above and beyond what’s expected.”
While the study found this effect was statistically pronounced in males, Barnes said that the combination of