Time: 1-2pm CST (on Zoom)

Free with registration in advance

CEUs available for social work: $10 per 1 credit hour

Lecturer: Prof. Elizabeth Thompson Gershoff, Ph.D., Director, Population Research Center, and Professor, Human Development and Family Sciences, the University of Texas, Austin

Elizabeth Gershoff’s research focuses on how parental and school discipline affect child and youth development and how parent education and early education programs can improve the lives of at risk children. She is an internationally recognized expert on the effects of corporal punishment on children. Dr. Gershoff also studies how and for whom early intervention programs, such as the Head Start program, have the strongest impacts. She currently serves as the Director of the Population Research Center. She was previously an associate professor of social work at the University of Michigan and a research scientist at the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University.

Brief summary: The UN has stated firmly that physical punishment is a form of violence against children, and over 60 countries have agreed by banning physical punishment. However, most countries still distinguish between acceptable physical punishment and unacceptable maltreatment. In this talk, Elizabeth Gershoff will make the case that any “line” between physical punishment and maltreatment is arbitrary, in large part because the negative outcomes for children vary only in degree.