Brightsurf Science News and Current Science News Events
 
Email a Friend Send to a friend
Printer Friendly Print Victims of child maltreatment more likely to perpetrate youth violence, intimate partner violence

Victims of child maltreatment more likely to perpetrate youth violence, intimate partner violence

September 25, 2007

Some people are caught in a cycle of violence, perhaps beginning with their own abuse as a child and continuing into perpetration or victimization as an adult. To interrupt this cycle, it is important to understand how childhood experiences are related to behavior later in life. In a paper published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers examined how forms of child maltreatment victimization and youth violence and young adult intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration or victimization are interrelated.

This study analyzed data from more than 9,300 respondents of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Respondents were asked about youth violence perpetration and victimization during Wave I of the study in 1994-1995, and were subsequently asked about IPV perpetration and victimization in young adult sexual relationships in Wave III of the study (2001-2002). Questions in Wave III assessed whether the respondent suffered physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect as a child. To evaluate IPV in young adults, this study was restricted to those respondents who reported at least one sexual relationship in the two years preceding Wave III. In addition, demographic and environmental variables were collected, such as parent education, employment status, school enrollment, and the county crime rate, among others. Youth violence was defined as fighting, hurting someone badly enough to need care, threatening to use a weapon, using a weapon, and shooting or stabbing someone. Intimate partner violence was defined as threatening a partner with violence; pushing, shoving, or throwing something at a partner; slapping, hitting, or kicking a partner; or insisting or making a partner have sexual relations when he or she did not want to do so.




The authors examined two relationships: the relationship among child maltreatment, youth violence perpetration, and IPV perpetration (perpetration link), and the relationship between child maltreatment, youth violence victimization, and IPV victimization (victimization link).

Depending on the specific type of child maltreatment experienced, compared to nonvictims, victims were more likely to perpetrate youth violence (up to 6.6% for females and 11.9% for males) and young adult IPV (up to 10.4% for females and 17.2% for males). Gender differences exist in the links between child maltreatment, youth violence and IPV. For instance, the link between IPV perpetration and child maltreatment in the forms of physical abuse and neglect was stronger in females. The link between child sexual abuse and future IPV perpetration was significant for males but not for females. Gender differences also exist in the effects of socioeconomic factors on youth violence and IPV.

Writing in the article, the study authors note that victims of child maltreatment are more likely to perpetrate youth violence and IPV in the future and that there was less of an effect of child maltreatment on future victimization of youth violence or IPV. The authors state that these findings reinforce the commonly held views that preventing child maltreatment may be key to preventing future perpetration of youth violence, and that interventions targeting youth violence may also serve to prevent later IPV perpetration or concurrent dating violence.

Elsevier Health Sciences



Related Youth Violence News Articles
Sexual violence study finds NY teens victimized at rate higher than national average
The New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, in collaboration with Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health's Center for Youth Violence Prevention, announced the results of a three-year, comprehensive research project on sexual and dating violence among New York City high school students, and the health impact of that violence on those victimized by it.

Anger, depression much higher among jailed teen girls than boys
A new study reveals that girls in juvenile detention centers face surprisingly different psychological issues than average teen girls and, in some ways, more severe problems than incarcerated boys.

Study finds connection between teenage violence and domestic violence
Researchers tracing the development of violent behavior have found a link between teenage violence and domestic violence.

Violent video games lead to brain activity characteristic of aggression, MSU researcher shows
A Michigan State University researcher and his colleagues have shown that playing violent video games leads to brain activity pattern that may be characteristic for aggressive thoughts.
More Youth Violence News Articles


The Road to Whatever: Middle-Class Culture and the Crisis of Adolescence
by Elliott Currie

An “energetic,” “provocative,” and “much-needed” investigation of the root causes of the epidemic of drug abuse, violence, and despair among middle-class American teenagers (Los Angeles Times) In this groundbreaking book, acclaimed sociologist and Pulitzer Prize finalist Elliott Currie draws on years of interviews to offer a profound investigation of what...



Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them
by James Garbarino

"Remarkable--. What sets Lost Boys apart from the ordinary lament is the author's palpable sense of care and compassion."--The Washington Post Book WorldIn the past few years our national consciousness has been altered by haunting images of mass slaughters in American high schools, carried out by troubled young boys with guns. It's now clear that no matter where we live or how hard we try as...



Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings
by Katherine S. Newman, Cybelle Fox, Wendy Roth, Jal Mehta, David Harding

In the last decade, school shootings have decimated communities and terrified parents, teachers, and children in even the most “family friendly” American towns and suburbs. These tragedies appear to be the spontaneous acts of disconnected teens, but this important book argues that the roots of violence are deeply entwined in the communities themselves. Rampage challenges the...



Touching Spirit Bear
by Ben Mikaelsen

Cole Matthews is angry. Angry, defiant, smug--in short, a bully. His anger has taken him too far this time, though. After beating up a ninth-grade classmate to the point of brain damage, Cole is facing a prison sentence. But then a Tlingit Indian parole officer named Garvey enters his life, offering an alternative called Circle Justice, based on Native American traditions, in which victim,...



Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do
by Lawrence Kutner, Cheryl Olson

Listening to pundits and politicians, you'd think that the relationship between violent video games and aggressive behavior in children is clear. Children who play violent video games are more likely to be socially isolated and have poor interpersonal skills. Violent games can trigger real-world violence. The best way to protect our kids is to keep them away from games such as Grand Theft Auto...



Getting Played: African American Girls, Urban Inequality, and Gendered Violence
by Jody Miller

View the Table of ContentsRead the Preface"The result of Miller’s information lode is a…sometimes uplifting book. It is possible for government and private-sector programs to alleviate the violence against females, Miller believes—but not if those in charge lack the will and refuse to allocate the resources."—St. Louis Post Dispatch”Miller gives us a detailed examination of the...



Seventeen Real Girls, Real-Life Stories: True Crime
by Seventeen Magazine

Deadly Consequences/How Violence Is Destroying Our Teenage Population and a Plan to Begin Solving the Problem
by Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Michaele Weissman



She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom Of Cassie Bernall
by Misty Bernall

In the aftermath of the Columbine High School tragedy, a story came out about Cassie Bernall, a young woman who allegedly professed her belief in God in the moments before she was shot dead. Hailed a modern-day martyr by Christian groups and the media, detectives revealed months later that she may never have had such an exchange with her killer. Bernall's parents responded to the news with a...



All Souls: A Family Story from Southie
by Michael Patrick MacDonald

This searing coming-of-age memoir is set in "Southie" where gangster Whitey Bulger runs the drug business, and class and racial violence erupt in response to forced busing in the 1970s. MacDonald loses four siblings to drugs, poverty, and violence, and eventually attempts to transcend his grief as he becomes an activist in the Southie he can't help but love. "If you were charmed by Frank...

© 2008 BrightSurf.com