Violence in Families Can Lead to Dating Violence in Teens

Rebecca Lewis March 27, 2013

Children who grew up in a violent household are more likely to experience violence in their intimate relationships, a new study found.

It is a known fact that more and more people are getting involved in intimate relationships at an early age. While violence is common among teen ‘lovers’, this is not just because they are too young to understand love. Another reason for this, which scientists from Iowa State University uncovered, is the emotional strain these teens experienced while they were still young.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, is among the first to study the patterns of violence among children who were exposed to violence and stresses while they were growing up. For over three decades, researchers investigated how childhood violence affected the quality of relationships the participants had during their teenage years. The team, headed by Brenda Lohman, a professor of human development and family studies at the University, found that the psychological violence between a parent and a child has greater impact on future relationship than the child witnessing violence between her mum and dad.

Researchers also found that family stress is another predictor of intimate partner violence, but its effects can be observed between the age of 20 and 30.

What is more troubling, according to the researchers, is that the pattern of violence tends to be passed on from one generation to another. Adolescents who have been influenced by family stress during their childhood tend to have poor relationships with their partners or spouses, which in turn, affects their children’s behaviour as they enter a romantic relationship.

Also, drug and alcohol use, academic difficulties, low parental monitoring, and making friends with antisocial peers are other risk factors for violent intimate relationships. The researchers argued that these findings highlight the importance of prevention and intervention programs in schools, families and among peers.

Love and Violence among Teenagers

Lohman and his team conducted another study to determine how teens’ perception affects how they reported violence. For the second study, they interviewed teenagers from low-income families about their experiences of violence. They found that females were a lot more likely to experience psychological violence than males. Among the most common forms of violence these women experienced were slapping, pushing, hitting and name-calling.

“Beyond parenting, I think it starts with peer skill building and peer development” says Dr Lohman. She said these skills can carry over into future romantic relationship skills. She hopes to see young people being taught about these skills in middle school and beyond.

Dear Readers,

Do you think complementary therapy could help young adolescents deal with the effects of childhood-related emotional stress?

Share your comments below!

Source of this article:

The Functional Neural Architecture of Self-Reports of Affective Experience