Violence In The Home

Heyman, R. & Slep, A. (2002), Do child abuse and inter-parental violence lead to adulthood violence?, Journal of Marriage and Family, 64, 864-870.

This article asked the question, if children are abused will they be involved with violence later in life? It also discusses the connection of child abuse and domestic violence in homes today. By comparing families that include various incomes, schooling and either single parents or married couples, the researchers were able to find many interesting connections with violence and families.

The 1985 National Family Violence Survey was used to determine the information used in this journal entry. It asked married, widowed, seperated and divorced male and female parents, 18 years and older, questions about violence in their families. Questions included physical punishment and domestic violence demonstrated to the surveyers as children. The study asked participants if they were abused as adolescents and if there were signs of abuse in their household amoungst parents.

After reviewing the data there were many signs of violence stemming from the surveyers childhood. For mothers who were exposed to both domestic violence (described as inter-parental violence in the article) and physical punishment as children, it was more likely that they would physically abuse their children compared to mothers only exposed to one. The data also showed that when domestic violence was shown in the homes of the surveyers as children, it increased the risk of child abuse in the surveyer's home as adults. The results concluded that violence in the households, either domestic or child abuse, increased the risk fpr adulthood family violence. This includes females abused as children and males exposed to violence at a young age. However, the positive outcome of the survey showed that many families chose to not display violence in their homes and to their significant others.

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