NCJ Number
221566
Journal
Trauma, Violence, & Abuse: A Review Journal Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2008 Pages: 56-67
Date Published
January 2008
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This literature review focuses on research regarding links between childhood maltreatment and subsequent violent behavior by victims in their adolescent years.
Abstract
Research to date indicates that physical abuse in childhood is the type of abuse most consistently related to violent behavior in adolescence. Also combinations of abuse types-sexual, emotional, and physical-along with the increased severity of the abuse, apparently increase the likelihood of later violent behavior in adolescence. Less severe forms of physical punishment and harsh parenting increase the likelihood of later violent behavior for some youth, notably youth living in poverty and youth exposed to high levels of community violence. Evidence is also emerging that childhood maltreatment may be a predictor of the perpetration of subsequent intimate partner violence particularly for females. Further research and hypothesis-testing of gender differences are required in order to clarify the effects of gender on the processes and outcomes of differing types and chronologies of child maltreatment. It is also important to clarify racial and ethnic differences in the variables and/or developmental processes that link child maltreatment to later youth violence. Prospective longitudinal research is required for further understanding of how the experience of child maltreatment is related to the risk of later youth violence and the perpetration and/or victimization of intimate partner violence. Further research would benefit from comparable definitions and measurement of children's exposure to violence outside the home so as to better identify the contextual risk and protective factors that influence the risk for childhood maltreatment to result in later violent behavior. 1 table and 34 references