Can spanking cause diseases like asthma or cancer? In any case, this is the conclusion of a study carried out by researchers from the University of Plymouth, in Great Britain. The latter, after questioning hundreds of patients on the possible corporal abuse they had suffered during their childhood, arrived at this conclusion: the stress caused by corporal punishment or corporal abuse during childhood, can cause illnesses such as asthma, cardiovascular disease and even cancer when these children reach adulthood.
A few months ago, Canadian researchers had already shown that spankings received in childhood increased the risk of mental problems adulthood.
This time, Professor Michael Hyland, from the College of Psychology at the University of Plymouth, who led this study explains: “It has long been known that stress experienced in early childhood has repercussions for the long term and creates predispositions to certain diseases. For this study, we therefore interviewed 700 adults from Saudi Arabia, a country where corporal punishment is considered normal. Of these, 250 were in good health, 150 had heart problems, 150 were asthmatic and 150 had some form of cancer.
Figures from the study showed adults who said they had been ‘abused’ in some form as a child were 70% more likely to be in the cancer group than in the healthy group, 30% more % more numerous in the cardiac group and 60% in the asthmatic group.
