In 1980 a highly credentialed group of sociologists published, Behind Closed Doors: Violence in the American Family. With eight years of gathering interviews and research they found that eighty-three percent of 2,143 parents interviewed which were all from different cultural backgrounds, admitted using some form of violence on their children at some time in the child's life. Violence is an act carried out with the intention to cause physical pain or injury (Strause, Gelles, and Steinmeitz).

Corporal punishment is still widely used on children. Unfortunately it can have severe consequences. Professor Philip Greven, of the State University of New Jersey writes, "The pain and suffering experiences by children who have been physically punished resonate through time, first during the seeming endless days and nights of childhood and adolescence, and later through the lives as we lead as adults". In the book, Athapaskan Adaptions, James Vanstone states; "that Athapaskan children are ra

Another reason parents use physical punishment comes from the background of religion and culture. Dr. James Dobson is perhaps the most popular author of child rearing books and literature with a biblical background. He believes and clearly states that, "Corporal punishment in the hands of a loving parent is an act of love". His beliefs are based on the Bible, "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with a rod, he shall not die" (Proverbs 23:13). Perhaps physical punishment is too deeply rooted in cultures and throughout the society of today.

A child's environment can also be changed, for instance a child insists on hitting, kicking, and punching a friend because that is what the power rangers do, than the environments needs to be changed. There are several alternatives that could prevent this type of behavior such as: providing the child with other activities like books, crayons, puzzles and other simple activities which may enrich the child's environment, or discuss the consequences of such actions, which would consist of not allowing the child to view such programs. This would encourage the child to use appropriate and acceptable behavior in away that is not harsh, or threatening to the child (Gordon).

Changing unacceptable behaviors to acceptable behavior usually involves the skill of problem solving. There is almost always a need a child is trying to meet that leads to unacceptable behavior. With babies and toddlers, a parent needs to recognize the need and help the child achieve it with an acceptable form of behavior. With adolescents there is the ever-changing environment, increasing responsibilities, and peer pressures that parents need to be aware of. Parents need to make time to discuss and listen to their children with an open form of communication. In Reviving Ophelia many adolescent girls struggled with many different problems that were often the result of today's environment.

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Approximate Word count = 1319
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)