Children whose parents spank them or use other aggressive methods to punish them are more likely to have sexual problems as teenagers or adults, according to a research made by a University of Hampshire domestic abuse expert.

Professor Murray Straus concludes that children who are spanked have a much higher risk in adulthood to verbally or physically coerce a partner into having sex, to have unprotected sex and to have masochistic sex.

Other studies have also been made, showing the link between spanking and physical violence, but Professor Straus’ study is the first to link spanking with sexual behaviour.

"My underlying motive was to bring this to the attention of parents and of more people, in the hope it will help continue the decrease in the use of corporal punishment," Straus said, according to The Associated Press.

Straus first conducted a study of this kind in the 90’s, when he asked 207 students at three colleges if they had ever been spanked as children, and whether they were ever aroused by masochistic sex. He concluded that the students who had been spanked in childhood were almost twice as likely to practice masochistic sex.

Straus declared he would like pediatricians to warn against spanking. He thinks parents should be made aware about the obvious harm that physical violence does to children later in life.

“Parents should never, ever spank because, although it does work, it’s no better than non-hitting methods that don’t have harmful side effects. If there was an FDA for spanking, they’d say use an alternative that doesn’t have harmful side effects,”he said.