Scientific consensus contradicts this claim.

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What the evidence found 3 findings
Based on 9 sources:
PMC peer-reviewed View
American Psychological Association Monitor institutional View
Evidence Based Living institutional View
Journal of Family Psychology peer-reviewed View
American Psychological Association Bulletin peer-reviewed View
University of Texas at Austin News institutional View
PsyPost news View
PMC peer-reviewed View
American Academy of Pediatrics Publications - Effective Discipline to Raise Healthy Children peer-reviewed View
Based on 8 sources:
PMC peer-reviewed View
American Psychological Association Monitor institutional View
ResearchGate peer-reviewed View
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health peer-reviewed View
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
Knox Science of Wellbeing institutional View
Based on 13 sources:
PMC Article on Scientific Evidence for Legal Spanking Bans peer-reviewed View
Safe to Learn Coalition Report institutional View
ResearchGate Study on European Corporal Punishment Bans peer-reviewed View
PubMed peer-reviewed View
Office of Justice Programs institutional View
Child Abuse & Neglect peer-reviewed View
ResearchGate institutional View
PMC (PubMed Central) peer-reviewed View
Growing Up in Ireland Study institutional View
Better Care Network - State of the World's Children 2021 institutional View
Campbell Collaboration Systematic Review peer-reviewed View
ResearchGate Publication on Child Development peer-reviewed View
ERIC Educational Resources institutional View
What research hasn't answered 2 gaps
PMC peer-reviewed View
American Psychological Association Monitor institutional View
Evidence Based Living institutional View
Journal of Family Psychology peer-reviewed View
American Psychological Association Bulletin peer-reviewed View
Sources 21 findings
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2016 Gershoff argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
tree-leaf argumentation
argumentation Unknown
argumentation Unknown
argumentation Unknown
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Generated by reaso.ai's editorial pipeline: claim restated, scientific consensus classified via 3-run majority vote, 21 findings enriched with attribution and study type, narrative written in neutral voice. No individual researcher has signed off on this specific analysis — see methodology for how the pipeline works. Built with Claude Sonnet by Anthropic. Updated April 16, 2026. How we do this →

Written by AI. Sources are linked for verification.