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An Examination of Competing Explanations for the Intergenerational Transmission of Domestic Violence

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International Handbook of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma

Part of the book series: The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping ((SSSO))

Abstract

Although domestic violence has been a feature of most societies throughout human history (Levinson, 1989), only within the last 25 years have we come to view it as a serious social problem. North America and Western Europe have been the location for much of the research on this topic, but in recent years, researchers from other parts of the world have also begun to investigate this issue. Studies of domestic violence consistently find that childhood exposure to family violence significantly increases the chances that an individual will be violent toward his or her spouse or children during adulthood. This intergenerational pattern is often referred to as a “cycle of violence” (Gelles & Cornell, 1990; Steinmetz, 1987).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Center for Family Research in Mental Health, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 50014, USA

    Ronald L. Simons

  2. Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Family Research in Mental Health, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 50014, USA

    Christine Johnson

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  1. Ronald L. Simons
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  2. Christine Johnson
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Group Project for Holocaust Survivors and Their Children, New York, New York, USA

    Yael Danieli

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Simons, R.L., Johnson, C. (1998). An Examination of Competing Explanations for the Intergenerational Transmission of Domestic Violence. In: Danieli, Y. (eds) International Handbook of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma. The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5567-1_33

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5567-1_33

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