FRIDAY, Sept. 25 (HealthDay News) -- There is a negative correlation between spanking and IQ in children, according to a study presented this week at the 14th International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma, held from Sept. 21 to 26 in San Diego.

Murray A. Straus, Ph.D., of the University of New Hampshire in Durham, and Mallie Paschall, Ph.D., of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Berkeley, Calif., analyzed two nationally representative samples of children, a cohort of 806 2 to 4 year olds and a cohort of 704 5 to 9 year olds, who were all tested and rested four years apart.

At the four-year mark, spanked 2 to 4 year olds had IQs five points lower than their counterparts who were not spanked, and the differential for 5 to 9 year olds was 2.8 points, the researchers found. The negative effect of spanking on IQ was dose-dependent, the investigators note, while a global survey showed that IQ was lowest in countries where spanking was the most prevalent.

"It is time for psychologists to recognize the need to help parents end the use of corporal punishment and incorporate that objective into their teaching and clinical practice," Strauss said, in a statement. "It also is time for the United States to begin making the advantages of not spanking a public health and child welfare focus, and eventually enact federal no-spanking legislation."

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