The intergenerational transmission of violence : a systematic review

Abstract

This research is set up to explore whether a child who witnessed and/or experienced violence in childhood is at greater risk of becoming a victim or perpetrator of intimate partner violence in adulthood. The literature review defined intimate partner violence looked at, types of abuse, and related statistics. The study focused also on power and control and on the effects on children who witnessed and /or experienced violence. The study used a systematic review methodology, on studies which already existed on the intergenerational transmission of violence in intimate partner relationships. The results of nine international quantitative journal articles and four local qualitative long essays examined. These studies were systematically compared and contrasted. The findings of this study suggest that a child who had witnessed and/or experienced violence in childhood is at greater risk of becoming a victim or perpetrator of intimate partner violence in adulthood. Girls who experience and/or witness their mother as the victim of violence are at greater risk of becoming victims of violence in adulthood, while boys who witness and/or experience their father as the perpetrator of violence are at greater risk of becoming perpetrators of violence in adulthood. Although, a child who experiences and/or witnesses violence in childhood is at greater risk of being involved in a violent relationship in adulthood, this study also concluded that this does not mean that every child who experiences and/or witnesses intimate partner violence in childhood, is going to grow up to be a victim or perpetrator of intimate partner violence in adulthood. It also does not mean that every victim or perpetrator of intimate partner violence is coming from a violent family of origin.