'Cycle of Violence' in Families - Fact of Fiction?

• NCJ Number: 100372
• Author(s): M D Pagelow
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 24 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper prepared for presentation at the Session on Family Theory and Social Policy at the Tenth World Congress of the International Sociological Association in Mexico City, Mexico, 1982.

Annotation

In examining the accumulated scientific evidence of an intergenerational transmission of violence, this study indicates that a simple, nondiscretionary cycle is doubtful but a more focused model has some validity.

Abstract

A review of relevant research from 1960 through 1982 yields little scientifically sound support for the popular assumption that the childhood experience or observation of family violence predisposes the child to become a victim or perpetrator of domestic violence as an adult. This theory can be improved by focusing on a target category of violent actors and violence victims. When controlling for the gender of actors and victims as well as for childhood witnessing and experiencing of adult violence, there is stronger evidence for a cycle of violence. Apparently, boys who have witnessed paternal violence are more likely to exhibit violent behavior than boys who were victims of paternal violence. Additionally, boys abused by their fathers are more likely to be violent adults than boys abused by their mothers. Further, boys who witness or are subjected to paternal violence are more likely than girls undergoing similar experiences to become violent adults. If additional research focusing on a more refined model produces strong support for a father-son cycle of violence, such findings would have important implications for social policy and helping professionals. 4 footnotes and 49 references.