The Intergenerational Transmission of Abuse and Neglect

THE INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT

“Today, like every other day, thousands of defenceless children will be terrorized, battered, bruised, left unfed, ignored, violated sexually or killed by the very people they instinctively trust and turn to for love and nurturing, their parents. On a typical day, at least five children are killed by abuse or neglect and two of those five are infants under a year old. These are the chilling realities of child abuse and neglect in America. Forty percent of those killed die before their first birthday” (retrieved on April 17th, 2006, from http://www.nursefamilypartnership.org/resources/files/PDF)

The gruesome facts stated in the quotation above is not only true for America but is representative the world population at large and indeed the number of children going through this unfavourable and unfortunate experience of abuse and neglect is of immensely large magnitude. This truth is undeniable and is verified by statistical data but questions arise and the mind is perplexed and curious to know the reason behind these horrible acts of injustice inflicted by the parents on their children. Were they themselves in the past targets of such torture? Will the children grow up to be abusive parents in future?

The hypothesis that “abuse breeds abuse” is a commonly held belief and over the years many scholars and researchers have explored this subject and come up with varying results. A number of reports have been published supporting or criticizing the thesis that abused children grow up to be abusing parents. This essay shall try to weigh the pros and cons of this widely accepted phenomenon, judging by the successes and failures of studies conducted in this field and try to come up with a meaningful comprehension and eventual conclusion regarding the inter-generational transmission of abuse and neglect.

Dr. Bruce Perry, a neurobiologist and authority on brain development and children in crisis, explains how severe neglect or abuse can permanently injure children. The systems in the human brain allow us to form and maintain emotional relationships developed during infancy and the first years of life. With severe emotional neglect in early childhood the impact can be devastating. Severely neglected children frequently respond aggressively in their own defense and this response is often accompanied by a detached, cold lack of empathy. The tragedy sometimes continues generation after generation in a cycle of violence as some of the parents who were abused and neglected as children turn on their own children. (Retrieved on April 17th, 2006, from http://www.nursefamilypartnership.org/resources/files/PDF)

Through case study results, agency records and self-report studies conducted by Egeland and Jacobvitz (1984), Hunter and Kilstrom (1979) and Straus (1979), Kaufman and Zigler (1987) suggest a rough estimate of 25 – 35% as the rate of intergenerational transmission of abuse and neglect. The overall pattern of findings suggest that childhood adversities lead to poor parenting through the mechanism of placing the individual in the category of high vulnerability and decreased coping skills (Quinton and Rutter, 1988) which will make it more likely that he/she will portray aggressive behaviours and be less prepared to deal with adult adversities and may express their frustration through abusing their children. Quinton and Rutter (1988) suggests that early disrupted family experiences causes deviant personality disorders which in turn leads to poor parenting in the future causing a cyclic chain of abuse to continue from generation to generation. This was proven by the high rate of personality disorders in the sample studied. Other common traits observed among abusive parents were that they usually experienced marital disharmony, were of low social status and low average intelligence, show a higher rate of per-marital conception and criminal record. (Smith, 1978 in Quinton and Rutter, 1988).

Egeland and Jacobvitz (1884, in Kaufman and Zigler, 1987) sees the actions of abusive parents in a new light and suggest that their actions may be justified or understood in the light of cultural and environmental determinants . It may be socially acceptable to punish children as a form of disciplinary deed and environmental and socio-ecological factors such as poverty, isolation and stress as well as factors evoked by the child him/herself such as child temperament and disobedience may be the reasons behind the abuse. The history of abuse, hence, may not be the sole determinant of the inter-generational link of child abuse. The record of current abusive parenting may be a product of multiple determinants, simultaneously affected by these different variables.

It was also noted through research studies that parents who broke the vicious cycle of abuse had more extensive social support. Most non- repeaters had at least one emotionally supportive parent, relative or friend and were able to admit and evaluate their parents’ actions, come to terms with it and were more expressive about their earlier experiences of abuse (Langeland and Dijkstra, 1995). It is also possible that they experienced less severe and less persistent forms of abuse, therefore better able to cope with the situation. All in all, those who had an optimistic attitude and a sense of hopefulness for a better future were better able to come out of the cycle and more determined to give their children a life that they themselves never had.

Apart from the multi- directional causes of abuse and the existence of the possibility that the cycle of abuse can be and has been broken in the past, many researchers have found serious weaknesses and flaws in the studies supporting the thesis of intergenerational transmission of abuse conducted prior to their own. We can begin by considering the exact meaning of abuse. In simple linguistic terms, abuse is defined by the Webster Dictionary as maltreatment, physical, mental or emotional and the usage of crude and insulting language on another being. Every researcher has employed a different definition in their study to categorize the subjects according to the extent of abuse portrayed. There in itself lies the first drawback of the studies in question and the failure of the researchers to use common, clear and precise parameters of the definition of abuse and neglect (Kaufman and Zigler, 1987)

Furthermore, the numerous experiments and studies conducted concerning this issue have all come up with different results and outcomes and the