This article provides both a summary and an update of a section of a paper titled "The Discipline and Guidance of Children: Messages from Research" (Smith, Gollop, Taylor and Marshall, 2005). The difference between discipline and physical punishment, methodological issues in research, and the research evidence on long-term effects of physical punishment are discussed. In examining the long-term effects of physical punishment, the following topics are traversed: social, cognitive and mental health; moral internalisation and family relationship outcomes; and the interactions with culture and ethnicity. The author concludes that there is little evidence to support the retention of physical punishment and posits that parents should avoid the health risks associated with punitive approaches to discipline. It is acknowledged that programmes such as the "Strategies with Kids - Information for Parents" (2005), a Ministry of Social Development programme, is useful for parents in terms of changing their ideas about discipline. As such, the author recommends a change in law to support programmes of this nature so that parents cannot use the excuse of using reasonable discipline when they have assaulted children.

Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, March 2006, 27: 114-127