Hmmm... does that mean that the entire humanity remained in the dark on that issue for millenia, and the truth about evil effects of physicial punishment was only discovered by a group of brave US hippies ca 1969?
My own thinking, admittedly based on old fashined analytical reasoning, goes as follows. Human behavior is a result of multiple factors as well as interaction among these factors. It takes a hell of the analytical work to attribute a particular outcome to a particular factor under particular circumstances. Thus, attributing violent or abusive behavior to a single factor of being physically punished (or "abused") as a child smacks of newage sorcery. It is so, because many socities excercised physical punishment butd did not experience the magnitude of delinquent and anti-social behavior observed in the US. So even if physical punishment is a contributing factor to that delinquency, an inquiring mind would like to know under what circumstances.
PS. There is a difference between physical punishment and abuse. Abuse does not have to physical, emotional abuse is more common and often more damaging to a person's self-esteem than good old fashioned whacking.
What is more, not every phsyical punishment is abuse. I was physically disciplined as a child and lived to tell about it. My sister was not and grew up to be socially challenged. I did not physically punsih my kid at all - but he was good kid anyway. That unscientific sample tells me that physical punishment alone does not mean a thing - it is the social context that matters.
wojtek