Researchers found that smacking kids, instead of using non-physical punishments, reduces their emotional intelligence and 「executive functioning ability」 which allows us to think on the spot and modify our behavior when necessary.
據英國《每日電訊報》28日報導，研究人員發現體罰孩子會降低其情商和「執行能力」，而非肉體懲罰則不會。這就要求我們謹慎思考並在必要時調整我們的行為。
Continued corporal punishment may make children comply with rules in the short term to avoid getting beaten, in the long term they'll fail to take them on board or understand the reasons why they exist.
經常體罰或許會使兒童在短期內為了不至於再挨打而變得聽話。但長久下去，孩子們就不會再買帳了，或者他們無法理解自己存在的原因。
The study authors, from American and Canadian universities, warn this could lead to lower levels of self-control and poorer behavior in the long term.
來自美國和加拿大幾所大學的研究人員提醒說，長期體罰兒童可能會降低兒童的自控能力，而且他們的行為也會更加糟糕。
They monitored 63 kids from two private schools in West Africa, aged five and six. All the children came from the same area and had similar home backgrounds. One of the schools used corporal punishment for offences ranging from forgetting a pencil to disrupting classes, while the other stuck to non-physical discipline for misdemeanors, such as verbal warnings and time-outs.
研究人員對西非兩所私立學校的63名5至6歲的兒童進行了檢測。這些兒童均來自同一個地方，並且有相似的家庭背景。其中一所學校在孩子犯錯後對其進行體罰，錯誤包括忘帶鉛筆到擾亂課堂。而另一所學校用非體罰的方式懲罰違反紀律的學生，比如口頭警告，免去休息時間等。
The youngsters were assigned a range of tasks designed to test their executive functioning skills. Results, published in journal Social Development, showed that the kids at the school that avoided corporal punishment scored "significantly higher" in these tasks than kids who were smacked at school.
研究人員分配給孩子們一系列的任務以評估其「執行能力」。結果表明，在無體罰學校學習的兒童所得到的分數明顯比在體罰學校的兒童高。這一結果已刊登在《社會發展》雜誌上。
Study author Professor Victoria Talwar, from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, said: "These results are consistent with research findings that punitive discipline may not have any negative effects in the short term; but if relied upon over time it does not support children's problem-solving skills, or their abilities to inhibit inappropriate behaviour or to learn."
研究者之一、加拿大蒙特婁麥吉爾大學的維多利?亞塔爾瓦教授說：「這個結果和先前的發現也是一致的，即：在短期內體罰沒有太多的負面影響，但是如果兒童長時間經受體罰，他們並不能幫助孩子提高解決問題的技巧以及抑制不良行為或者學習的能力。」
（實習生：李帥男）