Harriet MacMillan and colleagues acknowledge that a limitation of their study1 is inaccurate recall of events before age 5 and they concede that the spankings received by the respondents in their study may have been a response to their behavioural problems rather than the cause. What is not mentioned is that individuals with the disorders considered in this study are possibly more likely to have a negative bias regarding their early recollections. The "linear association" implied in the interpretation is more an expression of current fashion than of objective analysis.
Reference
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