Fleshing out the voices: The psychological effects of physical punishment in school.

Abstract

This qualitative study examined school corporal punishment from a phenomenological perspective using individual interviews and oral history narrative gathered from participants by audiotape recordings. The research focused on adult perceptions of their experiences with corporal punishment as a child in school, and participants answered open-ended questions about their recollections of the past event, how it affected them when it originally occurred, and how they feel that it affects them now, if any, in the present. The purpose of the research is to gain greater understanding of the psychological effects of corporal punishment sustained in a school setting by individuals, from their perspectives as adults. Participants were adult volunteers, age 18 to 64 years old, who had experienced school corporal punishment previously.

The results of the study indicate that participants' perceptions supported the literature review on some of the short-term psychological effects of school corporal punishment. Significantly more negative than either positive or neutral outcomes were recalled. The most common theme derived from narrative transcripts of the interviews was a feeling of shame, embarrassment, or humiliation felt by the participant at the time that the corporal punishment occurred. An unexpected result or theme was a "mythology" or "lore" about rituals concerning this disciplinary practice which appeared to have fascinated the participants when they were students, even though they expressed recollections of being fearful of corporal punishment.