Children Who See Relationship Violence More Likely to Perpetuate It

New research offers some startling numbers about how frequently children of violent households go on to repeat that violence with their own kids.

Four out of five young people who had grown up surrounded by relationship violence were found to later perpetrate violence against their own romantic partners, according to the study.

The research was published by the Crime Victims Institute at Sam Houston State University. Its data was drawn from a National Youth Survey study that interviewed more than 1,600 families.

Gathered over a 20-year period, these results included 353 second-generation parents and their third-generation offspring.

Also, similar numbers were seen in terms of children of violence later becoming victimized themselves. Three out of four families of relationship violence had at least one child who later also became a victim of crime.

“Four out of five people who had grown up

with violence were found to perpetrate it.”

Minor issues of partner violence was reported in most couples, 92 percent. These included issues of throwing something in anger or pushing someone. However, of those couples, 67 percent admitted at least one violent act against a partner.

Of that group, however, 87 percent of their children were later found to also be violent toward partners. Roughly 20 percnet had participated in three or more types of partner violence.

The study was commissioned by the Crime Victims Institute of Texas, which was designed to study the impact of crime on its victims and society in order to develop better public policies.

Scholars from Sam Houston State University and Colorado State University authored the research.

From: crimevictimsinstitute.org.