The State of Research on the Effects of Physical Punishment – Long considered an effective, and even necessary, means of socialising children, physical punishment has been revealed to be a predictor of a wide range of negative developmental outcomes. Research findings about the effects of physical punishment on outcomes for children provide a persuasive argument in favor of changing policies on the use of physical punishment within families.2 A research team from the Children’s Issues Centre recently reviewed research on the guidance and discipline of children (Smith et al. 2005). This paper summarizes and updates a section of that report.