The AAP opposes any form of corporal punishment for children. In a new policy statement on effective disciplinary strategies for children, published in the December 2018 Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that parents and other adults not use hitting, spanking, or other forms of corporal punishment with children or adolescents "either in anger or as a punishment for or consequence of misbehavior, nor should they use any disciplinary strategy, including verbal abuse, that causes shame or humiliation." New evidence shows that corporal punishment can result in aggressive behavior, depression, and other adverse outcomes that can persist through adolescence and adulthood, according to the statement, which also reviews healthy forms of discipline.