“When Dr. Vincent Felitti, head of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, began to delve into the reasons for the high dropout rate of patients who'd been successfully losing weight in Kaiser’s obesity program, he found to his surprise that a high proportion of those dropping out had histories of childhood abuse or neglect. Dr. Robert Anda, who had been doing research with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the psychosocial origins of health-risk behaviors in patients at VA hospitals, heard Felitti speak about his findings, and in 1992 the two began to collaborate on the largest-scale study to date of the incidence and effects of childhood trauma, known as the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study.
According to data collected from the over 17,000 Kaiser patients in this ongoing retrospective and prospective study, adverse childhood experiences, though well concealed, are unexpectedly common, have a profound negative effect on adult health and well-being a half century later, and are a prime determinant of adult health status in the United States.”
www.cavalcadeproductions.com/ace-study.html
www.acestudy.org/download
THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF HOW FEARS ARE STORED IN DISSOCIATED ALTERS
Schore,
Le Doux and other neurobiologsts provide massive evidence that the neural circuitry of the infant’s fear system is located in the right brain in two main affect regulators: the prefrontal cortex (the regulator) and the amygdala (the fear system.)85 When children experience maternal abandonment fears and maternal abuse, they release cortisol, which shuts down their prefrontal cortex and makes their amygdala hyperactive, “indelibly imprinting, burning in” the memory of the threatening mother in their amygdalan module.86 “The role of the amygdala is to remember a threat,

Fig. 3-4 Areas of the Brain
generalize it to other possible threats, and carry it into the future.”87 “Human subjects whose brains were electrically stimulated in the region of the amygdala reported a sense of being reprimanded by an authority.”88 Only major dangers imprint themselves in dissociated form in the amygdala.89
Amygdalae of insecurely attached children are hyperactive and larger than those of securely attached children, plus their prefrontal cortices are smaller, and so they are less able to control their fears, angers and other irrational emotional reactions in response to later interpersonal difficulties.90 As LeDoux puts it, “They are probably with us for life.”91
psychohistory.com/originsofwar/03_psychology_neurobiology.html
T
his paper proposes that most violence has its roots in early childhood abuse and neglect. Whether it is a question of adolescent gang violence, adults fighting in a bar, wife and child abuse, or acts of terrorism, the origins of violence lie in abusing and shaming children. If we wish to live in a peaceful world where we are able to mature emotionally and relate to each other with empathy and compassion, the need to provide a safe, nurturing environment for all children should be our highest priority.
Recent brain imaging surveys and other neurobiological research show that child abuse and neglect can cause permanent damage to the neural structure and function of the still developing brain of the child (Teicher, M., 2002, pp.68-75).
primal-page.com/childabu.htm
A difficult childhood reduces life expectancy by 20 years among adults who experienced six or more particular types of abuse or household dysfunction as kids, while those who suffered fewer types of trauma lost fewer years of life, a large-scale epidemiological study finds.
www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?i...ancy-abuse-mortality
"Even minimal amounts of spanking can lead to an increased likelihood in antisocial behavior by children....This study provides further methodologically rigorous support for the idea that corporal punishment is not an effective or appropriate disciplinary strategy." 2
They found that:
"Among white non-Hispanic children but not among black and Hispanic children, spanking frequency before age 2 is significantly and positively associated with child behavior problems at school age." 4
A study, based on a national survey on mental health, found that physical punishment in childhood is associated with an increased rate of major depression and alcohol abuse or dependence later in life. Physical punishment was defined in the study as minor assault such as being slapped, spanked, pushed, or shoved.
The study also found that physical abuse, defined as including being kicked, hit with an object, beaten up or choked, was also associated with these and other psychiatric disorders. 5
The PubMed abstract states:
"Physical punishment, as a means of disciplining children, may be considered a mild form of childhood adversity. Although many outcomes of physical punishment have been investigated, little attention has been given to the impact of physical punishment on later adult psychopathology. Also, it has been stated that physical punishment by a loving parent is not associated with negative outcomes; however, this theory has not been empirically tested with regard to psychiatric disorders. The main objective of the present study was to investigate three categories of increasing severity of childhood adversity (no physical punishment or abuse, physical punishment only, and child abuse) to examine whether the childhood experience of physical punishment alone was associated with adult psychopathology, after adjusting for sociodemographic variables and parental bonding dimensions.
METHODS: Data were drawn from the nationally representative National Comorbidity Survey (NCS, n=5,877; age 15-54 years; response rate 82.4%). Binary logistic and multinomial logistic regression models were used to determine the odds of experiencing psychiatric disorders.
RESULTS: Physical punishment was associated with increased odds of major depression (AOR=1.22; 95% CI=1.01-1.48), alcohol abuse/dependence (AOR=1.32; 95% CI=1.08-1.61), and externalizing problems (AOR=1.30; 95% CI=1.05-1.60) in adulthood after adjusting for sociodemographic variables and parental bonding dimensions. Individuals experiencing physical punishment only were at increased odds of adult psychopathology compared to those experiencing no physical punishment/abuse and at decreased odds when compared to those who were abused.
CONCLUSIONS: Physical punishment is a mild form of childhood adversity that shows an association with adult psychopathology. 6
Co-author John Frank, director of Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy, said:
"This finding, if replicated in other studies, suggests that
patients known to have experienced child abuse or neglect should have their cardiovascular risk factors managed somewhat more aggressively than other persons, since they are at greater risk. ... Like many previous studies linking early life characteristics and experiences with late life serious disease, this study does not explain precisely how such links operate, biologically; further research will be required to understand that process." 7
www.religioustolerance.org/spankin29.htm
The case against spanking:
There are many arguments against spanking:

It is ineffective: Spanking a child will stop the child from misbehaving for the moment, but studies have shown that the child's compliance will only last for a short time; corporal punishment actually increases the child's non-compliant behavior in the future. Psychologist H. Stephen Glenn said
"Corporal punishment is the least effective method [of discipline]. Punishment reinforces a failure identity. It reinforces rebellion, resistance, revenge and resentment. And,
what people who spank children will learn is that it teaches more about you than it does about them that the whole goal is to crush the child. It's not dignified, and it's not respectful." 1

It may trigger criminal, anti-social, violent, aggressive behavior later in life: A longitudinal study of 442 boys born in 1972, found that one out of every three boys -- those who have a specific version of a gene -- who was maltreated during childhood will be almost certain to exhibit anti-social or criminal behavior as an adult. Maltreatment was defined as including physical abuse. If this is true for boys subjected to physical abuse, one wonders if the violence associated with conventional levels of corporal punishment could also trigger some level of violent or aggressive behavior later in life? Unfortunately, researchers do not yet know what level of violence is needed to trigger the negative adult behavior. It can be argued that, in the absence of precise data, parents should err on the side of caution and avoid spanking at all costs. More details

It has been linked to many adult problems.
Corporal punishment studies have linked spanking during childhood to higher levels of adult depression, psychiatric problems, and addictions. Another study shows that children who were spanked have a lower IQ when compared to children whose parents used other methods of discipline and control.

It can escalate to abuse: Because a spanking works for a while, the parent often repeats the spanking whenever the child misbehaves. Corporal punishment may then become a standard response to any misbehavior. This can lead to increasingly frequent and harsher spanking which can exceed the "reasonable force" threshold and become abuse. According to the Institute for the Prevention of Child Abuse, "85% of all cases of physical abuse result from some form of over-discipline through the use of corporal punishment". Each year about 44 Canadian children are known to have been killed by family members; 35 of them by parents. The figures for the United States are probably about 10 times higher.

It can unintentionally cause serious physical damage:

Boxing on the ear can burst an eardrum.

Shaking can cause a concussion, whiplash, blindness, serious brain damage, or even death.

Spanking can injure muscles, the sciatic nerve, pelvis, coccyx (tail bone), genitals or spine.

Hitting a child's hands can injure bones, blood vessels, joints and ligaments; it can induce premature osteoarthritis.

A child who is hit can accidentally fall and seriously injure themselves.

It trains a child to use violence: Spanking can teach children that it is acceptable for the strong to use force against the weak -- the concept "Might makes right" is regularly reinforced. They have an increased likelihood of becoming more aggressive towards their siblings, their fellow students,
and (later in life) against their spouses and their own children. Violence as a way of behaving is a learned response.

Slapping or any other type of force used on the buttocks is a sexual violation: The buttocks are an erogenous zone of the human body. Their nerve system is connected to the body's sexual nerve centers. Slapping them can involuntarily trigger feelings of sexual pleasure which become mixed with the pain. This can lead to confusion in the child's mind which influences the way in which they express their sexuality as adults.

Spanking may lower a child's IQ: A study at the University of New Hampshire, released in 1998-JUL, found that spanking children apparently slows down their intellectual development. 3 A study of 960 children found an average 4 point reduction in IQ among students, from and average IQ of 102 (above average) for children who are not spanked, to an average IQ 98 (below average) for who are. A reduction of 4 points is enough to have a significant negative functional effect on the students. However, these studies only show a correlation between spanking and lower IQ. It does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship. More information

Spanking creates fear in the child: Irvin Wolkoff wrote:
"The message a toddler gets from a slap or spanking is that a parent or other loved and trusted adult is prepared to induce pain and even do physical harm to force unquestioning obedience. That's terrifying to a little kid...However well-intentioned, a slap registers as the shattering of the whole deal between parent and child. Young children are left awash in feelings of fear, shame, rage, hostility, self-destructiveness and betrayal that they can't yet resolve or manage." 2
www.religioustolerance.org/spankin4.htm#neg
Some 66% of participants reported one or more type of abuse. Physical abuse and verbal abuse were most strongly associated with body weight and obesity. Compared with no physical abuse (55%), being 'often hit and injured' (2.5%) had a 4.0 kg (95% confidence interval: 2.4-5.6 kg) higher weight and a 1.4 (1.2-1.6) relative risk (RR) of body mass index (BMI) > or = 30. Compared with no verbal abuse (53%), being 'often verbally abused' (9.5%) had an RR of 1.9 (1.3-2.7) for BMI > or = 40. The abuse associations were not mutually independent, however, because the abuse types strongly co-occurred. Obesity risk increased with number and severity of each type of abuse. The population attributable fraction for 'any mention' of abuse (67%) was 8% (3.4-12.3%) for BMI > or = 30 and 17.3% (-1.0-32.4%) for BMI > or = 40.
CONCLUSIONS:
Abuse in childhood is associated with adult obesity. If causal, preventing child abuse may modestly decrease adult obesity. Treatment of obese adults abused as children may benefit from identification of mechanisms that lead to maintenance of adult obesity.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12119573
Children who are physically abused may be at increased risk of developing cancer later in life. These results were published in Cancer.
Abuse during childhood has been linked with chronic health problems in adulthood. Relatively few studies have considered the risk of cancer in survivors of child abuse, but a study published in 1998 suggested that there could be a link.[1]
To further explore the relationship between child abuse and later risk of cancer, researchers evaluated a subset of information from the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey.[2] Information was available from 13,092 respondents.
The analysis focused only on physical abuse.
news.cancerconnect.com/17196/
Adverse childhood experiences are strongly related to ever drinking alcohol and to alcohol initiation in early and mid adolescence, and the ACE score had a graded or "dose-response" relationship to these alcohol use behaviors. The persistent graded relationship between the ACE score and initiation of alcohol use by age 14 for four successive birth cohorts dating back to 1900 suggests that the stressful effects of ACEs transcend secular changes, including the increased availability of alcohol, alcohol advertising, and the recent campaigns and health education programs to prevent alcohol use. These findings strongly suggest that efforts to delay the age of onset of drinking must recognize the contribution of multiple traumatic and stressful events to alcohol-seeking behavior among children and adolescents.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16549308?ord...les&logdbfrom=pubmed
We found a strong graded relationship between the breadth of exposure to abuse or household dysfunction during childhood and multiple risk factors for several of the leading causes of death in adults.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9635069?ordi...les&logdbfrom=pubmed
Early life trauma, particularly child abuse, has been associated with aberrations in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning in adulthood. However, the relationship of early abuse and later adult neuroendocrine changes may be moderated by additional factors such as comorbid psychopathology and recent life stress. Parental exposure to child abuse may have transgenerational effects, with offspring of abuse victims showing similar neuroendocrine profiles as their mothers. The majority of previous studies in this area focus on adult offspring, and the degree to which the effects of parental child abuse can be detected earlier in the development of the offspring remains obscure.
Maternal childhood abuse was associated with HPA axis function in both the mother and the infant during the postpartum period.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19931984?ito...DocSum&ordinalpos=18
The researchers suggest that people attempt to cope with the anger, anxiety and depression related to ACEs by engaging in health risk behaviors such as smoking, alcohol and other drug use, overeating and sexual behaviors. Thus, these health risk behaviors are actually personal solutions that become serious public health problems, including mental illness, substance abuse and a variety of life-threatening medical issues.
www.thefreelibrary.com/Adverse+childhood...haviors.-a0202360686 
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