Is Time-Out bad for children?

Time-Out has been used by parents and educators for decades. However, the effective procedure has gotten a bad reputation online.

What does the evidence say about time-out? 

Rachel M. Knight and her team of researchers (2019) looked at long-term data that tracked children from Early Head Start with assessments at three time periods: Age 0 - 3 years, prekindergarten, and fifth grade. The measures examined emotional and behavioral functioning as well as parent-child relationships.

What were the results? 

"Analyses for all outcome variables suggest no significant difference for children whose parents reported using time-out versus those who did not."

And their conclusion?

"Parental reported use of time-out was not associated with long-term negative outcomes. Further research in this area is necessary to continue to address the multitude of concerns related to time-out that are presented by the media."

Journal Link Online (published 11 September 2019 online before the print version)

https://journals.lww.com/jrnldbp/Abstract/publishahead/Longitudinal_Relationship_Between_Time_Out_and.99158.aspx?PRID=JDP_PR_091219

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Learn more about evidence-based discipline in Discipline with Respect.

You can read a press release with quotes from other clinicians at this BBC link.

Evidence-Based Parenting 11 Principles of Discipline with Respect

Parents have been raising children to become leaders for thousands of years. Evidence-based parenting is simply a collection of principles that have been tested--tested in current studies and tested over time.

Respectful parenting treats children with the love and respect all people deserve without giving up the appropriate boundary between parents and children.

The world is full of people who are loving, respectful and kind. Parents and children can change the world--even if it is one person at a time.

11 Evidence-Based  Principles included in Discipline with Respect

Introduction: The Principle of Respect     

1. The Principle of Purpose     

2. The Principle of Advertising     

3. The Principle of Leadership by Example      

4. The Principle of Coaching    

5. The Principles of Encouragement      

6. The Principles of Changing Behavior: Guidelines      

7. The Principles of Changing Behavior: Applications      

8. The Principle of the Pure Spring      

9. The Principle of Choice      

10. The Principle of Relationship Repair      

Understanding Forgiveness and Reconciliation

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Discipline with Respect Includes Time Out

Some argue against the use of Time Out discipline strategies despite scientific evidence of its effectiveness. Some criticisms of time out are justified. Discipline with Respect involves a commitment to a long-term loving parent-child relationship.

Used correctly, time out is a brief time away from a pleasant activity as a consequence for a child’s unacceptable socially aggresive or destructive behavior. In Discipline with Respect and other programs, parents and educators learn that time out is one of many strategies to help children learn to follow basic rules in home and school settings. The emphasis in Discipline with Respect and other parenting programs is always on creating a positive setting where children are encouraged to be a part of family and peer activities sometimes referred to as “time in.”

Parents and teachers explain time out in advance so children understand the purpose of a brief time away from activities and where they will spend that short period of time. It is best not to discuss the time out procedure or the problem behavior with a child who has not responded to a warning. Discussions can lead to escalation. Discussing the misbehavior can occur after the time out consequence if there is doubt the child does not see the connection between the aggressive behavior and the time out consequence.

Most time out guidelines suggest using about one minute in time out per year of age so 5-minutes for a child age 5 and 10 minutes for a ten-year-old.

Time out is more effective when children are in a chair or sitting on a mat away from the activity where they misbehaved. Time out is more effective when children are not playing with toys or doing other fun activities.

Time out is more effective when children calm briefly before they return to their previous activities.

Encourage positive interactions when the child returns to their activities.

Researchers find time out helps reduce both physical and verbal aggression and destructive behavior in many settings. Again, time out is only one strategy and should be used in the context of an overall positive program. Like other strategies, time out will not always be effective with every child.

Time out is not a strategy for every type of misbehavior. The focus of research is on using time out to interrupt aggressive and destructive behavior, which is often accompanied by anger. The risk of not using time out or other effective strategies is that children will continue to be aggressive as they grow older. Some may be concerned about repressing anger but that concern is not supported by evidence. Parents and teachers can teach the appropriate way to express anger within their culture—for example, using words and taking constructive action.

Some parenting sources advocate holding aggressive children but this is controversial. Parents and other care givers find it difficult to safely and effectively hold aggressive children.

Those who focus only on positive approaches to discipline help engender an attitude of respect. However, most find that effective discipline needs to include consequences for severe misbehavior. For an academic review of research on time out, see the Morawska and Sanders (2011) reference.

Morawska, A., & Sanders, M. (2011). Parental use of time out revisited: A useful or harmful parenting strategy?. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 20(1), 1-8. doi:10.1007/s10826-010-9371-x

  

Shriver, M. D., & Allen, K. D. (1996). The time-out grid: A guide to effective discipline. School Psychology Quarterly, 11(1), 67-75. doi:10.1037/h0088921

Sutton, G. W. (2018). Discipline with Respect in Caring Relationships. Sunflower Press. Available from Amazon.

Discipline with Respect Website

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What About Spanking? A Recent Study

Parents either believe in the value of spanking or they don’t. Many young parents will be guided by scientific evidence but others will follow traditional practices, which often include spanking.

Psychological Science does not support the value of spanking. There is reasonable evidence linking parental spanking by age 5 to behavior problems at ages 6 and 8.

Here’s a quote from Dr. Gershoff of the University of Texas at Austin on findings from their recent study.

 

“Our findings suggest that spanking is not an effective technique and actually makes children’s behavior worse not better.”

Spanking, Ethics, and Research

The reason psychologists cannot speak with a certainty is that it is unethical to conduct experiments where children are randomly assigned to spanking and nonspanking parents.

Sample Size

The sample size was huge. Gershoff and her colleagues looked at the results from 12,112 children whose parents participated in the US Early Childhood Longitudinal Study.  After identifying those who spanked, the scientists formed a comparison group of parents who did not spank but were similar based on 38 parent and child characteristics such as gender, health, behavior problems, parent’s education, and their social-economic level. They looked at the size of the household and degree of conflict in the home. The also matched on age and marital status. The goal was to create two equivalent groups whose main difference was spanking or not spanking. Read more in the article--see link below.

Spanking: Survey Data

According to an ABCNEWS poll, 65% of U S parents support spanking. About half admit they spank their own children at time but most do not approve of spanking in schools-- 72% believe it should not be permitted.

There is a regional difference. More parents in the U S South (62%) spank than those who live elsewhere (41%).

Spanking also varies with a parent's education. Among those with college degrees, 38% spank but 55% of those with less than a college education spank.

There are no state laws that prohibit spanking in general. But 27 states have policies against spanking. At the time of the poll, spanking was permitted in schools in 23 states. 

What do parents do?

A study of parenting trends between 1988 and 2011 found that U S parents have used less physical discipline. For example, mothers with a median income, reported the use of physical punishment at 21% in 2011 compared to 46% in 1988.  So, what are parents doing? More parents are opting for timeouts and talking with children instead of spanking. (Strauss at Slate)

I should note that timeouts are also challenged. Here's a link to the timeout discussion. https://ifstudies.org/blog/positive-parenting-is-ideal-but-many-children-need-time-outs-too/ 

Technical notes

Surveys rely on self-report, which can be subject to positive impression management.

Large surveys (usually over 1,000) can reduce bias when there is an effort to ensure the sample is representative of a population.

Writers in leading publications write about timeout as one word or with a hyphen, time-out.

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 Here’s a link to the article: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797617729816

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