Family Violence Causes Youth Violence (From Violence: Opposing Viewpoints, P 108-112, 1996, David Bender, et al, eds. - - See NCJ-159343)

• NCJ Number: 159355
• Author(s): T P Thornberry
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 5 pages
• Sale Source: Greenhaven Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Opposing Viewpoints Series

Annotation

Statistics indicate that children who grow up in violent families are more likely than other children to be violent as teenagers.

Abstract

In particular, one study of child maltreatment and delinquency showed that 69 percent of youths who had been maltreated as children reported involvement in violence, compared to 56 percent of youths who had not been maltreated. Another study addressed three different indicators of family violence: partner violence, family climate of hostility, and child maltreatment. Findings revealed that 70 percent of adolescents who grew up in families in which parents fought with each other self-reported violent delinquency, compared to 49 percent of adolescents who grew up in families without conflict. While 38 percent of youths from nonviolent families reported involvement in violent delinquency, this rate increased to 73 percent for youths whose family engaged in both partner violence and child maltreatment. Children exposed to multiple forms of family violence reported twice the rate of youth violence as those from nonviolent families. 2 figures