It's kind of a 50/50 thing, to be honest. My brother and I both got smacked around when the normal stuff didn't work (grounding, talking to, etc.) Typically this amounted to a smack upside the head, but I can count a couple of times I got a kick to the stomach. If we were both acting up in unison, we got our heads cracked together.
As we got older (late teens) shit got a little more intense. I'd finally figured out that acting out and being a smartass wasn't really going to get me anywhere so I straightened up and headed off to Uni. I've got a pretty good relationship with my Dad (who did most of the beating), and he admitted it probably wasn't the best parenting technique. I have no hard feelings about it... honestly when I think back on it, I can remember a number of times that I decided not to do something stupid in fear of general ass kicking when I got home. It sort of helped me make the right decisions when I was still in that stage of my life where I had poor decision making skills.
Now, my younger brother, he's the bad outcome of beatings. Y'know, the one you read about in all the parenting books, and hear about in the news. I remember one time when I was over at my Dad's after Uni, my Dad and I went out to pick my brother up from school and of course, he hadn't gone for the thousandth time in a row. They're arguing all the way back home, and the second we get into the house my Dad just starts wailing on my brother. Punch after punch to the chest, from the front door to the far end of the hallway. Somewhere halfway down the hallway my brother had staggered and fallen to the floor propped up against the wall. I swear, my father's punches followed him from standing all the way to the ground. He gave my brother the ground pound for a few more seconds, before screaming at him why he wasted everyone's time trying to get his ass to school. My brother just gave him a dead stare (one we'd both developed, it was better not to engage after getting your ass kicked) and eventually my Dad just swore and left him sitting there. Naturally, the next day my brother skipped school for time 1001. The beatings just seemed to make him rebel harder.
I know I've made my Dad sound pretty brutal, which he was at times, but he did try. When he remarried and moved and hour out of town, he'd get out of bed at 3 or 4 in the morning, just to drive an hour to our town and pick my brother up to drive him to school. He'd walk him to the front door, then hop in his car and head off to work. My brother would immediately turn around, and walk right back home. This continued for about a year, until eventually my Dad gave up. My brother is now 22 and still has no High School education. Every now and then he gets it together for a couple of weeks, does well at the adult education centre, then just gives up again. As time goes by each attempt at school gets weaker and weaker, and his addiction to alcohol, weed, etc. gets stronger and stronger...
...so yeah, I'd say it's a 50/50.