Some
of these studies involved large representative samples from the United States; 2 some studies controlled for potential confounders, such as parental stress3 and socioeconomic status; 4 and some studies examined the potential
of parental reasoning to moderate the association between physical punishment and child
aggression.5 Virtually
without exception, these studies found that physical punishment was associated with
higher levels of aggression against parents, siblings, peers and spouses.