Impacts of Childhood Abuse on Juvenile Violence and Domestic Violence

• NCJ Number: 192998
• Author(s): Sheila D. Ards; Samuel L. Myers Jr.
• Date Published: 2001
• Length: 122 pages
• Grant Number(s): 99-JN-FX-0007
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Corporate Author: University of Minnesota
• Sale Source: NCJRS Photocopy Services; Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse/NCJRS
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined whether one specific form of child abuse -- parental beatings of adolescent children -- contributed to juvenile violence and/or domestic violence among young adults.

Abstract

The data used in the study were obtained from the National Survey of Youth, a longitudinal data set of 11- to 17-year-olds begun in 1976. The survey solicited information on respondents' experiences with violence as they matured into young adulthood and entered into intimate partnerships. Childhood abuse was measured by whether children self-reported having been beaten by their parents. The study focused on the violence that children suffered in the 1980's and the subsequent juvenile violence and domestic violence of the 1990's. Regression analysis was conducted to isolate various demographic factors and their effects on juvenile violence and domestic violence. The residual difference method was used to measure race effects. Study results did not provide unequivocal support for the widely held belief that violence begets violence. Although in some instances, for some age groups, and at some pathways to adulthood, the findings offered limited support for the contention that childhood abuse contributes to subsequent juvenile violence or violence in intimate partner relationships, overall they did not show a uniform pattern of violence from childhood to adulthood. The limited evidence of the impacts of childhood beatings centered around female victims of domestic violence. Although there were no substantial differences in childhood abuse by race, there were large racial differences in attitudes toward violence, with Blacks much more likely to tolerate it; however, there was virtually no impact of childhood abuse on attitudes toward violence. Attitudes toward violence, however, constituted a strong influence on whether a person became a juvenile or adult perpetrator of violence. The sources of such attitudes require further research. Childhood beatings are not apparently a significant factor in the formation of attitudes conducive to violent behavior. 23 tables, 46 references, and appended data