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.

By Colin Allen, published on July 01, 2003

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.

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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.