Preventing and Reducing School Violence Fact Sheet #6 – Interrelationships
How Are Different Forms of Violence Interrelated?
Why is it important for practitioners to understand the interrelationships between different forms of violence? Violence happens in every community across the nation, and affects people of all ages. Few individuals and families experience violence as an isolated incident. Often, different forms of violence, such as domestic violence, child abuse, sexual violence, and suicidal behavior, take place concurrently within the same home. For each violent experience that young people go through, their risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of other forms of violence increases. It is important to remember that the majority of people who experience violence do not become offenders themselves. (For example, many children from abusive families do not abuse their adult intimate partners.1) However, the statistics in this fact sheet illustrate that violence can be cyclical in nature. Because violence in the home or community often affects student behavior and performance in school, practitioners should consider the connections between violence inside and outside of the school setting when developing school violence prevention plans. Educated Practitioners Are Better Equipped to Design Comprehensive Violence Prevention Programs- which are more likely to be successful, and Practitioners who understand the interrelatedness of these issues can also then educate and train their peers.
The facts A child who is physically or sexually abused by a parent is more likely to become a violent offender, and to commit violent offenses more frequently than one who has not suffered abuse.2 Young people who are physically abused show lower social effectiveness with peers and higher levels of aggression in the school setting.3 Research indicates that 70% of maltreated youth studied have engaged in violent delinquency, compared to 56% of youth who were not maltreated. This was true even when other confounding factors had been controlled.4 Children who have been exposed to domestic violence often exhibit behavioral and mental health problems such as aggression, depression, lower levels of social competence and self- esteem, poor academic performance and problem-solving skills, and low levels of empathy.5 Children who witness spousal assault and who have also been the victims of parental assault are six times more likely to assault other children outside their family than those who had not witnessed or experienced parental assault.6 Young males who witness parental domestic violence are at an increased risk for becoming abusive in their adult intimate relationships.7 Children from violent homes are 24 times more likely to commit sexual assault than their counterparts from non-violent homes.8 Children from violent homes are six times more likely to commit suicide than children from non-violent homes.9 Girls who suffer sexual assault experience elevated rates of depression and anxiety and are more likely to attempt suicide.10 In girls, physical and sexual abuse has been linked to increased aggression, delinquency, destructiveness, and the belief that a violent response is acceptable behavior when hit.11, 12
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1 Preventing and Reducing School Violence Fact Sheet #6 – Interrelationships
Children who experience multiple acts or forms of violence appear to be at greater risk of continuing the cycle of violence than those who have not been exposed to violence, including seeking retribution against their elderly parents.13
Additional Resources The website for the Minnesota Center against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA) contains information about the overlap of child abuse, domestic violence, and youth violence. More specifically, refer to Janet Carter’s article entitled “Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, and Youth Violence: Strategies for Prevention and Early Intervention” which can be accessed at http://www.mincava.umn.edu/link/fvpf2.htm.
The website for the Family Violence Prevention Fund in San Francisco contains information on the linkages between different forms of violence. http://fvpf.org
The National Funding Collaborative on Violence Prevention in Washington, D.C. is committed to focusing on the linkages between different forms of violence. http://www.peacebeyondviolence.org
1 Widom C (1989) The Cycle of Violence. 244 (4901): 160-166. 2 Smith C and Thornberry TP (1995) The relationship between childhood maltreatment and adolescent involvement in delinquency. Criminology. 33: 451-77. 3 Rogosch FA, Cicchetti D, and Abner JL (1995) The role of child maltreatment in early deviations in cognitive and affective processing abilities and later peer relationship problems. Development and Psychopathology. 7: 591-609. 4 Kelly B, Thornberry T, and Smith C (1997) In: The wake of childhood maltreatment. Juvenile Justice Bulletin; Donziger S (1996) The Real War on Crime: The Report of the National Criminal Justice Commission. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. 5 Jouriles EN, Norwood WD, McDonald R, et al. (1996) Physical violence and other forms of marital aggression: Links with children’s behavioral problems. Journal of Family Psychology 10:223-43; Margolin G (1998) Effects of domestic violence on children. In: Violence against Children in the Family and the Community. P.K. Trickett and C.J. Schellenbach, eds. Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association, pp 57-101. 6 Widom C (1989) Does violence beget violence? Psychological Bulletin. 106: 3-28. 7 Cate R, Henton J, Koval J, Christopher F, and Lloyd S (1982) Premarital abuse: A social psychological perspective. Journal of Marriage and the Family. 3(1): 71-90; Cate R, Koval J, Lloyd S, and Christopher S (1983) Romance and violence in dating relationships. Journal of Family Issues. 4: 467-482; Himelein M (1995) Risk factors for sexual victimization in dating: A longitudinal study of college women. Psychology of Women Quarterly. 19: 3-48; Koss M and Dinero T (1989) Discriminant analysis of risk factors for sexual victimization among a national sample of college women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 50: 455-457; Koss M, Leonard K, Beezley D, and Oros C (1985) Nonstranger sexual aggression: A discriminant analysis of the psychological characteristics of undetected offenders. Sex Roles. 12: 981-992; Malamuth, N, Linz, D, Heavey, C, Barnes, G, & Acker, M (1995). Using the confluence model of sexual aggression to predict men’s conflict with women: A ten year follow-up study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 353-369; Tontodonato P and Crew BK (1992) Dating violence, social learning theory and gender: A multivariate analysis. Violence and Victims. 7: 3-14. 8 Donziger S (1996) The Real War on Crime: The Report of the National Criminal Justice Commission. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. 9 Ibid 10 Silbert M (1997) San Francisco Juvenile Justice Comprehensive Action Plan. Delancey Street Foundation, 50. 11 Trickett PK, McBride-Chang C, and Putnam FW (1994) The classroom performance and behavior of sexually abused females. Development and Psychopathology. 6:183-94. 12 Center for Women Policy Studies (1997) Victims No More: Girls Fight Back Against Male Violence. 13 American Psychological Association (1996) Violence and the Family. 21.
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