Predicting Domestic Violence

Children who suffer family violence are at risk of perpetrating
domestic abuse themselves once they reach adulthood, finds to a study
that followed over five hundred families for 20 years.

Lead author Miriam Ehrensaft, a psychologist at Columbia University
says that three factors are the strongest predictors: "serious behavior
problems in adolescence, exposure to domestic violence, and power
punishments by the parents—harsh discipline.”

Being subjected to physical abuse as a child was most likely to
connect to violent romantic relationships later in life. Yet Ehrensaft
was most surprised to find that harsh parenting alone was associated with
domestic violence down the road. "These children learn coercive forms of
communication and conflict resolution from their parents," she
says.

These violent forms of communication aren't easily replaced. "The
treatment programs we have right now don't work very well," says
Ehrensaft. She recommends that prevention programs start as early as
possible, by at least 10 years of age. "The earlier you start to change
these behaviors, the better. “

Notably, the study found no gender difference among the violent.
Both men and women are equally likely to commit acts of physical
aggression. More than 20 percent of both genders reported being violent
with their partner; 5 percent of this violence brought injury to the
partner.

Ehrensaft and researchers at Columbia first contacted 543 randomly
selected children back in 1975. They, along with their parents, were
interviewed in 1983, 1985 and 1991. The final survey, done in 1999, asked
about aggressive behavior, romantic history and recent life changes. The
study was published in the August issue of the
Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology.