Cycle of Abuse

Research suggests about one-third of all individuals who were abused or neglected as children will subject their children to maltreatment. This cycle of abuse can occur when children who either experienced maltreatment or witnessed violence between their parents or caregivers learn to use physical punishment as a means of parenting their own children.

Breaking the Cycle of Abuse: How to Move Beyond Your Past to Create an Abuse-Free Future
Engel (2005)
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Provides a resource to adults who were abused as children to help break the cycle of abuse. The book discusses the impact of maltreatment and facing an abusive past.

Breaking the Cycle of Intergenerational Abuse: The Long-Term Impact of a Residential Care Program
Heufner, Ringle, Chmelka, & Ingram
Child Abuse & Neglect, 31(2), 2007
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Finds that adults who experienced abuse as children and lived in a residential care facility experienced lower levels of intimate partner violence.

Child Abuse and Physical Punishment
Englander (2007)
In Understanding Violence (3rd Ed.)
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Explores child, parental, and situational factors associated with child abuse, and the interactive role of physical punishment and other parental behaviors on the development of aggression later in life.

Child Maltreatment, Youth Violence, and Intimate Partner Violence: Developmental Relationships
Fang & Corso
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 33(4), 2007
Discusses the impact of child maltreatment on youth violence and intimate partner violence later in life. Results showed the significance of gender and type of child maltreatment on the cycle of violence. (PDF - 108 KB)

The Effects of Sexual Abuse as a Child on the Risk of Mothers Physically Abusing Their Children: A Path Analysis Using Systems Theory
Mapp
Child Abuse and Neglect: The International Journal, 30(11), 2006
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Assesses the potential path from sexual abuse as a child to the current risk of physical abuse by mothers, concluding that the ability of the mother to resolve the childhood trauma has the greatest impact on the risk of physical abuse.

Examining Childhood Abuse Patterns and Sensitive Periods in Juvenile Sexual Offenders
Grabell & Knight
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 21(2), 2009
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Reviews literature on sexual abuse history and its impact on future juvenile sexual offending. The study also examines increased risk for juvenile sexual offending based on the age at which the child experienced sexual abuse.

Exploring the Link Between Maternal History of Childhood Victimization and Child Risk of Maltreatment
Thompson
Journal of Trauma Practice, 5(2), 2006
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Attempts to determine the relationship of parental history of abuse with a child's risk for maltreatment. Research found that the current situations also played a large role on the levels of children's risk and that the situations were partially related to their childhood experiences.

How Victims Become Offenders
Widom & Wilson (2009)
In Children as Victims, Witnesses, and Offenders: Psychological Science and the Law
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Presents current knowledge about the relationship between childhood victimization and juvenile offending and examines potential mechanisms whereby abused and neglected children develop from child victims into child and adolescent offenders.

The Relationships of Dissociation and Effective Family Environment With the Intergenerational Cycle of Child Abuse
Narang & Contreras
Child Abuse and Neglect: The International Journal, 28(6), 2005
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Tests a model that may explain how physically abused children become physically abusive parents.