This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: More frequent spanking is linked to greater anxiety and aggression in children over time, according to international research that includes Filipino families presented by psychology professor Dr. Liane Peña Alampay of the Ateneo de Manila University.
The findings challenge the familiar belief that "pamamalo" produces more disciplined children, pointing instead to the benefits of warm relationships in the home, clear expectations and nonviolent disciplining. In her Ateneo Breakthroughs Lecture, Alampay drew from the Parenting Across Cultures (PAC) research project, the largest multicultural and longitudinal study of its kind in the world. Over 15 years, the PAC project followed children and their parents in nine countries—some 4,500 families in China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand and the U.S.
As the Philippine site lead, Alampay examined how parenting shapes child development and how culture influences parent-child relationships. Across the various cultures it studied, the PAC project found that more frequent physical punishment predicted greater anxiety and aggression. Cultural acceptance of the practice sometimes weakened these outcomes, but did not transform physical punishment into a beneficial practice.
"In no instance does corporal punishment have positive effects," Alampay said, underscoring the project's findings. "In the Philippine context, corporal punishment is often synonymous with discipline. But I want to correct that; there are many types and forms of discipline.
We need to discipline our children, but in ways that are not harsh or inflicting pain," she explained. Alampay's research also challenges the assumption that warm, accepting parenting is a Western approach unsuited to Filipino families. Across the nine countries, rejection, neglect and hostility toward the child were consistently associated with later emotional and behavioral difficulties that remained from age 7 to 14.
In contrast, children were protected from aggressive or antisocial behaviors, depression and anxiety in relationships when they felt valued and accepted. The Filipino parents represented in the research were among those reporting the strongest authoritarian attitudes, emphasizing strictness, obedience and respect for authority. Alampay distinguished this approach from authoritative parenting, which combines rules and expectations with warmth, open communication and recognition of the child's perspective.
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