APA: Some parents spank their child not only to punish him or her but to change their child’s behavior. Does spanking have that effect?
Dr. Kazdin: Spanking is not a very effective strategy. It does not teach children new behaviors or what to do in place of the problem behavior. It is also not useful in suppressing the problematic behavior beyond the moment. Research indicates the rate of misbehavior does not decline, in fact, the problem behavior returns, even if the parent escalates the punishment.
APA: What other types of physical punishment do some parents use?
Dr. Kazdin: The task is to help children change their behavior, and physical punishment is not needed to accomplish that. Developing positive opposite behaviors, i.e., the desired behaviors that the parent wants, is much more effective.

Gershoff reports that Straus and Stewart (1999) found that 94% of American parents spank their children by the ages of 3 or 4. Primarily they spank children up to age 5, one to two times per month. Gershoff notes too that the US Department of Health and Human Services (2001) indicated that 13 of every 1000 children are abused or neglected. Thinking that spanking leads to abuse, Gershoff investigated the effectiveness of spanking by conducting a meta-analysis. Holden, Baumrind, and Parke respond to her article, and she replies.

However, attitudes in many countries changed in the 1950s and 60s following the publication by pediatrician Benjamin McLane Spockof Baby and Child Care in 1946, which advised parents to treat children as individuals, whereas the previous conventional wisdom had been that child rearing should focus on building discipline, and that, e.g., babies should not be "spoiled" by picking them up when they cried. The change in attitude was followed by legislation. Since July 1979, 34 countries around the world (at 2013) have outlawed domestic corporal