Children who are often spanked learn that it is acceptable for the strong to use force against the weak. The concept that "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.
Spanking a child will stop the child from misbehaving for the moment. But studies have shown that the children compliance will only last for a short time; corporal punishment actually increases the children non-compliant behavior in the future. "The best way to get children to behave acceptably nowadays is to listen to them, understand them, and impose limits on their conduct firmly but reasonably."
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 lead 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 is probably about 10 times higher.

挨揍的孩子会悟出一个“理”儿：以强欺弱是天经地义的。“强权为王”的观念习惯性地在强化着。信奉此道的孩子会变得越来越对自己的同胞，自己的同学有侵犯的趋势。长此以往，在今后的生活中，就会对自己的配偶和孩子有暴力倾向。最终作为一种行为方式，暴力就养成了一种反应。
打孩子只能阻止其不良行为于一时，研究也表明，孩子对此的服从只能维持很短的时间。肉体惩罚实际上会增加孩子将来行为叛逆的可能性。保持孩子当前行为规范的最佳方式就是倾听孩子心声、理解孩子并在严加管束其行为的基础上方式方法要适当合理。
由于打孩子只管用一时半载，因此父母在孩子行为不端时往往会连续殴打他们。肉体惩罚也许在当时成为父母对孩子任何行为不端的标准反应。这可能导致殴打行为日益频繁和严酷以致超过“合理的动武”界限而成为伤害行为。据防止虐待儿童机构说，85%儿童身体伤害事件是由于对孩子纪律惩戒过严进而动用肉体惩罚而造成的。每年约有44名加拿大儿童是遭家人暴虐而死，其中35名儿童是由父母施暴而亡。而在美国，这一数字很可能在10倍以上。