Child-rearing and child abuse antecedents of criminality

Aggression and Violent Behavior, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 107–127, 1999 Copyright  1998 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 1359-1789/99/$–see front matter

PII S1359-1789(97)00027-X

CHILD-REARING AND CHILD ABUSE ANTECEDENTS OF CRIMINALITY Jaana Haapasalo and Elina Pokela Department of Psychology, University of Jyva¨skyla¨

ABSTRACT. A number of studies reviewed here show that those who are exposed to negative child-rearing practices varying from punitive and lax parenting to severe punishment and abuse in childhood tend to be antisocial, aggressive and commit violent crimes later in life. Both the record approach (Widom) studying later outcomes among abused children and the retrospective approach (Lewis) studying violent childhood experiences among offenders provide support for the violence breeds violence hypothesis. It appears clear that punishment in child-rearing increases the risk for maladaptive developmental outcomes but that the mechanism explaining the link between negative parenting and later maladjustment is still an unresolved issue. The review argues that a trauma model is the most interesting theoretical approach in explaining the mechanism.  1998 Elsevier Science Ltd POOR CHILD-REARING PRACTICES that may escalate into child abuse have been considered as one of the etiological factors in many social and psychological problems such as criminal behavior and psychiatric disorders in adulthood. Both child abuse and criminality are serious societal problems. In their 1975 survey of American family violence, Straus, Gelles, and Steinmetz (1980) found that 73% of the parents reported having used some form of violence against their child. Moreover, in the 1985 survey, those parents who had witnessed family violence in their own family of origin had a 25 to 50% higher rate of physically abusing a child than those who had grown up in nonviolent families (Straus & Smith, 1990). The boys were hit to greater proportions and more often than girls, and, in consonance with this observation, Straus and Donnelly (1994) suggested that the higher likelihood of boys being hit may contribute to the higher prevalence of violence in men. According to Finkelhor (1996), reported child abuse cases have continued to grow at the rate of more than 10% per year in the United States. (This does not necessarily mean, however, that incidence of abuse has dramatically increased, since a growing awareness of the problem may explain the finding.)

Jaana Haapasalo, Ph.D., and Elina Pokela, M. A. (Psych.), Department of Psychology, University of Jyva¨skyla¨, Finland. The work was supported by a grant from the Academy of Finland. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. Haapasalo, Department of Psychology, University of Jyva¨skyla¨, P. O. Box 35, FIN-40351 Jyva¨skyla¨, Finland. E-mail: JHAAPASA@PSYKA. JYU.FI).

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Violence has been on the increase in the United States. For example, the number of juvenile homicide offenders has more than doubled from 1984 to 1991, while the number of adult offenders increased 20% over the same period (Snyder & Sickmund, 1995). In societies where child abuse and family violence are endemic, the rate of violent crime also appears to be high. Straus (1991) theorized that violence in one sphere of life, such as in child-rearing, tends to engender violence in other spheres. If so, the relationship between an abusive childhood and later criminal behavior would be important to examine. The present review aims to interpret the evidence regarding the cycle of violence, although the authors recognize that previous outstanding reviews on this topic already exist (e.g., Egeland, 1993; Falshaw, Browne, & Hollin, 1996; Lewis, Mallouh, & Webb, 1989; Malinosky-Rummell & Hansen, 1993; Widom, 1989c). This review adds to the existing literature in two ways. First, the consequences of negative child-rearing for the development of antisocial and criminal behavior are reviewed on the basis of three sources of data: longitudinal studies, retrospective reports of offenders, and official records of abuse and crime. The similarity of the consequences of negative child-rearing and child maltreatment is emphasized. Second, a number of theoretical approaches, including a trauma model, explaining the mechanism underlying the link between abusive parenting and later maladjustment will be presented.

CONSEQUENCES OF PUNITIVE CHILD-REARING IN THE LIGHT OF PROSPECTIVE LONGITUDINAL STUDIES Most of the studies focusing on the effects of punitive child-rearing have relied either on a longitudinal research strategy, where child-rearing practices in the family have been analyzed and later linked to different outcomes among children in those families, or on retrospective reports, where childhood family histories of aggressive, antisocial, criminal or violent individuals have been examined. The purpose of this section is to review some of the most renowned studies on antisocial and criminal development. Some of the earliest large-scale studies on child-rearing practices and later maladjusted outcomes highlighted the relationship between poor child-rearing practices and antisocial or criminal behavior (Glueck & Glueck, 1950; Robins, 1966). Paternal discipline, maternal supervision, and parental affection toward the child were among the core elements in the Glueck model of criminality prediction. After Gluecks’ and Robins’ work, a number of longitudinal studies have examined the family precursors of antisocial behavior. We observed that in most of these studies punitive child-rearing practices or attitudes (corporal punishment, authoritarian attitudes, strict discipline), lack of love (rejection), laxness (poor monitoring, lack of supervision), family disruption (separations, divorce, instability, marital conflict), and deviant parental characteristics (criminality, substance abuse, mental problems) were mentioned, although the concept chosen to describe, for instance, punitive child-rearing could vary from one study to another. The common findings across the most important longitudinal studies examining the family antecedents of antisocial and criminal behavior are presented in Table 1 using the listed categories of punitiveness, lack of love, laxness, family disruption, and deviant parental characteristics. Typically, several reports based on the same data set are produced in the course of longitudinal studies, but only some of the most recent reports were chosen to be included in Table 1. The longitudinal studies that are more related to the link between childhood problems and future criminality were left out. Also, the studies that span a shorter period of time were excluded. Table 1 clearly indicates that punitiveness in parenting is the most frequently reported family precursor of later antisocial behavior.

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1,265 boys and girls followed from birth to age 15

358 men and 274 women followed from age 8 to age 30

253 boys followed up from age 8–10

206 boys followed up at grades 4, 6, 8, and 10

1037 boys and girls followed from birth

Fergusson, Horwood, Lynskey (1994) Christchurch Health and Development Study

Huesmann, Eron, Lefkowitz, & Walder (1984)

McCord (1988) Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study

Patterson, Reid, & Dishion (1992)

Silva (1990) Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study

Interviews Questionnaires Tests Parent and teacher ratings

Interviews Observations Questionnaires Peer nominations Teacher ratings

Interviews Observations Files

Interviews Peer nominations Files

Interviews Questionnaires

Interviews Tests Files

Major Measures

x

x

x

x

x

x

Punitiveness

x

x

x

x

Lack of Love

x

x

x

Laxness

x

x

x

Family Disruption

Note. The x symbols show that the study found the particular category of parenting or family factors important in the development of antisocial behavior.

411 boys followed up from age 8

Sample

Farrington (1992) Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development

Study

TABLE 1. Major Longitudinal Studies on the Relationship Between Family Factors and Antisocial Behavior

x

x

x

Deviant Parents

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McCord’s (1992) Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study emphasized the association between family process variables and later aggressive, antisocial, and criminal behavior. She followed up a sample of boys over the course of 40 years and concluded that lack of parental supervision, harsh discipline, marital conflicts and passive or rejective maternal attitudes were predictive of criminal behavior. In an analysis of 130 families, McCord (1991) found that 73% of the criminal fathers used physical punishment, whereas 48% of the noncriminal fathers resorted to physical discipline. When the father was both criminal and used physical punishment, 63% of the sons were criminal. When the father was criminal but did not use physical punishment, 33% were convicted of crimes. When the father was not criminal but used physical punishment, the respective figure was 37%. The proportion of criminal sons was lowest (14%) when the father was neither criminal nor used physical punishment. Generalized parental aggressiveness may be, however, more criminogenic than aggressiveness channelled into punitive discipline. McCord (1988) analyzed the criminal outcomes among 253 boys, whose families were assessed with regard to aggressive interaction in 1957. The families were considered aggressive if at least one of the parents was aggressive and if notable conflicts between the parents were present. In the punitive families, neither parent was habitually aggressive and there were few interparental conflicts, but at least one of the parents used corporal punishment. In the nonaggressive families the parents were not aggressive, had very few conflicts and did not use physical punishment. Fortyeight percent of the children brought up by aggressive parents, 27% of the children living with punitive parents and only 13% of the boys from the nonaggressive families were later convicted of crimes. The consequences of negative parental behavior for antisocial development were also examined in the longitudinal Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (Farrington & Hawkins, 1991; Farrington & West, 1981). In this study, the development of 411 8-yearolds was followed until the age of 32. The aim of the study was to clarify the predictive value of several factors presumably related to criminal behavior. Of child-rearing factors, physical neglect, harsh and inconsistent discipline, authoritarian child-rearing methods, an indifferent or cruel attitude on the part of the parents toward the child, and marital conflicts were characteristic of those boys who grew up to be delinquent. Similar findings were reported by Patterson and his colleagues who focused on the relationship between parental child-rearing practices and boys’ later antisocial behavior, and found that coercive child-rearing methods are related to the latter (Patterson, Reid, & Dishion, 1992). Like McCord, Patterson describes punitive child-rearing practices as being crucial in antisocial development. His approach diverges from that of McCord in that he regards parental nagging and empty threats of punishment as conducive to the continuance and worsening of undesirable behavior. For this reason, Patterson (1982) recommended use of back-up punishments (e.g., timeout, loss of privileges) to make a threat effective. He maintained that controlling and stopping antisocial behavior requires a negative consequence of some kind; mere positive reinforcement for prosocial behavior is not sufficient. Nevertheless, child-rearing practices based on negative interaction and physical punishments may result in aggressiveness and antisocial behavior. Poor child-rearing practices, such as corporal punishment and rejection, were also found to be related to aggressiveness in an American longitudinal study that followed the subjects from age 8 to 30 (Lefkowitz, Eron, Walder, & Huesmann, 1977; Huesmann, Eron, Lefkowitz, & Walder, 1984). The conclusions drawn from the study point to the harmful effects of harsh punishment and rejection on a child. Eron, Huesmann, and Zelli (1991) concluded that rejected children, who do not identify with their parents and who are harshly punished, may be the very children for whom few alternatives are available

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except aggression. The investigators also found out that the more harshly girls were punished for aggression, the more abusive they were later towards their own children and spouses. This result appears to lend support to the intergenerational transmission of violence hypothesis (Egeland, 1993; Widom, 1989c). In New Zealand, Silva and his colleagues (see, e.g., Moffitt, 1990; Silva, 1990) carried out the longitudinal Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development study that followed up one age cohort of 1037 children approximately every two years from birth. In connection with this study, Moffitt, Moffitt, Robins, Earls, and Silva (1993) compared antisocial children (n 5 50), children with other disorders (n 5 37), and nondisordered children (n 5 220) on family variables. The results showed that 40% of the antisocial children and only 12% of the nondisordered children had dealings with the police by the age of 15. Family factors, such as authoritarian child-rearing attitudes, accounted for 15% of the variance in the number of police contacts after taking into account early behavioral problems at age 5. The findings imply that family factors possess a predictive value in the development of antisocial behavior that is independent of early behavior problems. The importance of the study lies in the fact that it purported to seek family factors specifically predicting antisocial behavior instead of settling for factors generally predictive of behavioral and mental health problems. Finding factors specifically tied to antisocial behavior would make it easier to identify children and families at risk. Some of the prospective studies have paid attention to the resiliency issue and emphasized that not all children who are reared in dysfunctional childhood family environments fare ill in life. Fergusson, Horwood, and Lynskey (1994) studied 942 children from the original sample of 1265 participants who were followed from birth to age 15 and concluded that 3% of the children had severe early onset multiple problem behaviors. The families of multiple problem teenagers were characterized by social and material disadvantage, parental problems (criminality, substance abuse, and other maladjustment), impaired parenting and child care, and family instability, change, and marital conflict. Parenting was measured by assessing mother–child interaction in terms of emotional responsiveness and maternal avoidance of punishment. It thus could be inferred that of the child-rearing dimensions, loving and punitiveness were employed. Many of the multiple problem children were the offspring of seriously dysfunctional families, but on the other hand, many of those who grew up in similar circumstances did not exhibit multiple problem behaviors as teenagers. Fergusson et al. (1994) offered two possible explanations for this finding: (1) The resilient children were exposed to various protective factors, or (2) the children expressed other problems than, for instance, early sexual activity, substance abuse, conduct disorder, and police contact, which were assessed in this study. Despite the exceptions, the connection between an adverse childhood family environment and later problem behavior was relatively clear. Amongst the most disadvantaged 5% of the sample, only about 13% had no problem behavior as teenagers, but amongst the most advantaged 50% of the sample, only one child suffered from multiple problems. From the findings of the longitudinal studies described above, poor child-rearing practices, especially corporal punishment, authoritarian and power-assertive parental discipline, rejection, abuse, and neglect, have come up repeatedly as factors related to aggressive, criminal, and antisocial behavior (including alcohol and drug abuse). Additional important factors are poor supervision and monitoring of the child’s actions, lack of interaction between parents and the child, parental conflicts and disagreement on childrearing methods, separations, socioeconomical difficulties, and parental criminality, alcoholism, and mental health problems (Eron et al., 1991; Loeber & Stouthamer-Loeber, 1986).

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PUNITIVE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES OF OFFENDERS

The Violence Breeds Violence Hypothesis The longitudinal findings show that both child abuse and child neglect may lead to antisocial and criminal behavior and/or abuse of one’s own children. In the literature, this phenomenon has been called the intergenerational transmission of violence, the cycle of violence, the abused to abuser theory, and the victim to offender approach. The concept of child maltreatment, including physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse and neglect, can also be used, since several forms of maltreatment usually co-occur in the family (for an overview of child maltreatment, see Briere, Berliner, Bulkley, Jenny, & Reid, 1996). Separating their individual effects can be difficult. Recently, Barnett, Manly, and Cicchetti (1993) developed a maltreatment classification system including five subtypes of maltreatment: physical abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect (failure to provide and lack of supervision), emotional maltreatment, and moral/legal/educational maltreatment. Definitions of psychological abuse, emotional maltreatment, and emotional neglect, in particular, may vary from one study to another. The subtypes of neglect may include physical, emotional, medical, mental health and educational neglect (Erickson & Egeland, 1996). Even before Kempe, Silverman, Steele, Droegemuller, and Silver (1962) reported prevalence of parental violence directed at children and described the battered child syndrome, several psychiatric case studies alluded to the fact that cruel punishment, severe discipline, and other kinds of physical abuse may engender later violent criminal behavior (Duncan, Frazier, Litin, Johnson, & Barron, 1958; Easson & Steinhilber, 1961; Satten, Menninger, Rosen, & Mayman, 1960; Silver, Dublin, & Lourie, 1969). In all of these studies, brutal and sadistic beatings and thrashings resulting in fractures, contusions, burns, and welts were found in the backgrounds of offenders or delinquents. Witnessing parental violence, disturbed sexual behavior, physical overcloseness, and incestuous behavior in the family, coupled with rejection, hostility, parental overpermissiveness, parental acceptance of violent measures, even a murder, and the unwitting fostering of violent outbursts and criminal behavior in the child were also present as background factors. The intriguing possibility that violence breeds violence proposed by Curtis (1963) and restated by Silver et al. (1969) appeared to merit further study. As Silver and colleagues put it, the child who experiences violence as a child has the potential of becoming a violent member of society in the future. The presumed causal relationship between early abusive experiences and later violent and criminal behavior has recently been examined in two relatively thorough reviews (Malinosky-Rummell & Hansen, 1993; Widom, 1989c). In addition, links between child abuse and later criminal behavior have been looked at in several articles (e.g., Falshaw et al., 1996; Lewis, Lovely, Yeager, & Della Femina, 1989). Moreover, there appears to be a positive relationship between abusive parenting and the parents’ own abuse history (Egeland, Jacobvitz, & Papatola, 1987; Kaufman & Zigler, 1987; Milner & Chilamkurti, 1991). Sexual abuse for its part can increase the risk for later maladjustment and sexual offences (Browne & Finkelhor, 1986; Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor, 1993; Seghorn, Prentky, & Boucher, 1987). For women, childhood sexual abuse appears to be a risk factor for revictimization (rape, spouse abuse) in adulthood, but the link between sexual abuse in childhood and sexual offending in adulthood seems to be stronger among men than among women (Green, 1993). For men, some distinct long-term effects of sexual abuse may develop, such as adult homosexual orientation, homophobia, and sexual offending (Dhaliwal, Gauzas, Antonowicz, & Ross, 1996).

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Psychological abuse may occur as a by-product of other abusive experiences, be intertwined with them, or be present without other forms of abuse. The likelihood of future aggression, delinquency, and other problems may increase with the increasing number of forms of abuse. For example, Vissing, Straus, Gelles, and Harrop (1991) found in their study of 3346 parents with a child under the age of 18 that children who experienced verbal aggression (swearing, insulting, etc.) and physical violence showed the highest rates of aggression, delinquency, and interpersonal problems. Many studies have referred to isomorphism between childhood maltreatment history and type of criminality in adulthood. It has been stated that a high proportion of child molesters, rapists, and other sex offenders, as well as arsonists, have been sexually abused in childhood, whereas physical abuse is associated with adult criminal aggression and violence (Falshaw et al., 1996). There are studies indicating, however, that there are no specific relationships between type of maltreatment and type of offense (Widom & Ames, 1994). The issue is hardly amenable to rigorous studies, as the types of maltreatment cooccur and overlap. Adult offenders have often experienced more than one or even two types of maltreatment in their childhood. The exception may be sexual abuse, because it is a more rarely occurring experience than other forms of maltreatment. According to Finkelhor (1994), approximately 7% of women and 3% of men are sexually abused. Among sex offenders, prevalence of sexual abuse has been estimated to be considerably higher, even 70–80% (see Falshaw et al., 1996). The most thoroughly investigated area with reference to antisocial and criminal development is the relationship between physical maltreatment and later antisocial and criminal behavior. In Widom’s (1989c) review, three areas in particular were linked to the relationship between child abuse and later criminal behavior. First, case histories of violent/ homicidal offenders found child abuse in the family backgrounds of violent delinquents and offenders, but statistical limitations barred definite conclusions. Second, prospective data on child abuse/neglect and later delinquency revealed that 10–17% of the abused are delinquent, whereas retrospective findings indicated that, overall, rates of abuse in the background of delinquents range from 8–26%. Third, studies of the relationship between child abuse/neglect and violent behavior among delinquents and patient groups evidenced more abuse among young murderers and higher incidences of having been beaten in childhood among violent and assaultive patients. In this review, two interesting lines of research were selected for more detailed examination. The first of them, represented by Widom (1989a, 1989b, 1989c, 1989d), is based on a relatively large-scale data base. The second approach is focused on violent experiences in childhood in smaller groups of offenders (Lewis, 1992).

The Record Approach to the Violence Breeds Violence Hypothesis Widom (1989a) studied 908 child abuse and neglect cases from county court records in which the child was not older than 11 years at the time of the incident, and analyzed their adult criminal records and violent criminal behavior. The results showed that those adults who had been abused or neglected in their childhood were more frequently convicted of offences in general and violent offences in particular as compared to the control group of the same age. About 29% of the abused and neglected subjects and 21% of the controls had an adult criminal record. When the risk of getting a criminal record in the group of abused and neglected children was examined using logit analysis, abused and neglected children were found to have a 1.72 times greater risk of becoming registered for a crime (Widom, 1989b). It should be

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noted, however, that the investigation resorted to official records only, and was thus limited only to the most blatant cases of abuse, neglect and criminal behavior. Both Widom’s own studies and her review on the relationship between the early experience of violence or neglect and later criminal behavior (Widom, 1989c) demonstrated that the majority of abused or neglected children never get convicted of violent or other offenses. Obviously, early violent or neglect experiences may also lead to other kinds of emotional repercussions, such as depression or self-destructiveness. Such experiences may also result in aggressive, violent, accident-prone, self-destructive, and selfpunitive behavior. Abused children may be avoidant, insecure, self-conscious, impulsive, restless, unable to concentrate, and express few positive emotions towards others (Salzinger, Feldman, Hammer, & Rosario, 1993). Deficits in social behavior and social cognitions are common. It has been conjectured that a child’s temperament might have an impact on how the consequences of abuse will unfold (Widom, 1989c). For some, the consequences may show themselves in depression and exaggerated conformity, and for other children, they may be manifested in aggressiveness. Temperament could also act as a protective factor against criminal development. The type of maltreatment may also have an effect on developmental outcomes. In her review, Widom (1989c) incorporated physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, severe corporal punishment, and psychological abuse into the concept of child abuse and neglect. When committing a violent crime was examined according to the type of abuse, Widom (1989d) found that the victims of physical abuse later had the greatest number of arrests for violent offenses (15.8%) followed by the neglect victims (12.5%), the physical abuse and neglect victims (7.1%), the sexual and other abuse cases (7.1%), and finally, by those victims who had suffered only from sexual abuse (5.6%). In the nonmaltreated group, 7.9% had arrests for violent offenses. As Widom (1989d) pointed out, the findings offered, however, a simplified picture of the abuse/neglect and criminal behavior connection, since sex, race, and age are related to the differences in violent criminality and these variables were not taken into account in the analyses. Apart from Widom’s studies, few other extensive file-based studies focusing on the relationship between child abuse and later criminal behavior exist. In their inspection of the institutional files of 604 male inmates, Dutton and Hart (1992) came to the conclusion that men who were abused as children were three times more likely than nonabused men to behave in a violent manner in adulthood. The relationship between the type of abuse (physical, sexual) and type of adult violence appeared to be isomorphic: physically abused men committed physically violent acts, while the sexually abused were sexually violent as adults.

The Retrospective-Clinical Approach to the Violence Breeds Violence Hypothesis Another line of research is represented here by Dorothy Lewis and her collaborators, who have focused on smaller samples and garnered retrospective information on the childhood experiences of violent delinquents. In a study by Lewis, Shanok, Pincus, and Glaser (1979), 97 boys incarcerated at a correctional school were rated on a scale of violence from 1 (least violent) to 4 (most violent). They were then divided into groups of less violent and more violent delinquents. About 75% of the more violent had experienced, and 79% had witnessed family violence at some time during their childhood. The respective figures for the less violent boys were 33% and 20%. In the first follow-up study of the 97 participants, 77% of the more violent boys and 61% of the less violent boys had been arrested for a violent offense (Lewis et al., 1989). In the second follow-up nine years after discharge from juvenile corrections, the boys

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being about 24 years old, it was found that intrinsic neurological vulnerabilities, abusive/ violent families, early violence rating, and minority status accounted for 22% of the variance in aggressive offenses (Lewis, Yeager, Lovely, Stein, & Cobham-Portorreal, 1994). Early juvenile characteristics (neuropsychiatric impairments) and the first placement together accounted for 30% of the outcome. When the early characteristics were controlled, only the placement back home upon discharge from juvenile corrections was associated with a low rate of adult violent offenses. Those who were placed in institutions had the highest number of aggressive offenses. This is surprising, as most of these families were violent and abusive. One explanation may be that even in these families the boys received, at least sometimes, individual attention, unlike the boys who were part of the large group in institutions where the atmosphere may have been indifferent (Lewis et al., 1994). In another study, the backgrounds of 13 juvenile murderers, 14 violent delinquents convicted of other violent offenses, and 18 nonviolent incarcerated delinquents were compared (Lewis et al., 1988). The findings revealed that 62% of the murderers, 71% of the other violent delinquents, and 33% of the nonviolent delinquents encountered family violence in childhood. The studies described above concerned boys, but adult criminality is common also among abused girls. Those abused girls who later engaged in criminal behavior were plagued by suicidal thoughts, alcohol and drug dependency, got easily involved in violent relationships, and could not take care of their children (Lewis, Yeager, Cobham-Portorreal, Klein, Showalter, & Anthony, 1991). Almost half (48%) of the girls were sexually abused, while the prevalence of sexual abuse in the general population is about 12%. Most of the girls also had serious neuropsychiatric symptoms. Lewis, Pincus, Lovely, Spitzer, and Moy (1987) compared 31 juvenile delinquents and 31 nondelinquents with regard to violent experiences in childhood, neurological damage and psychotic symptoms. Seventy-seven percent of the delinquents and 13% of the control subjects had been victims of severe physical violence in their childhood. Sixty-one percent of the delinquents (vs. 23% of the control group) had witnessed family violence. Moreover, 80% of the delinquents guilty of homicide and 58% of the other delinquents had been physically abused. All these studies thus clearly indicate that delinquents have experienced considerably more abuse and family violence than nondelinquents, when retrospective reports are used. In addition, delinquents suffered from more neurological and psychiatric symptoms than others. According to Lewis et al. (1989), it is often difficult to determine whether neurological impairment has been caused by abuse or by prenatal or birth complications. Abuse may occur already in infancy and lead to head injuries and brain dysfunction which are difficult to distinguish from the disorders resulting, for example, from premature birth or other complications. Lynch (1988) concluded that 10% of the abused children in his study had severe neurological symptoms, 15% had moderately severe symptoms and, in addition, several children had minor neurological symptoms and were prone to clumsiness. If a neurophysiological vulnerability exists (e.g., brain dysfunction, abnormal neurotransmitter concentrations), the psychobiological consequences of child abuse and neglect have in all likelihood a greater impact than on neurophysiologically intact persons (Lewis, 1992). Child abuse and neglect may thus exacerbate preexisting neurophysiological vulnerabilities. Overall, the work done by Lewis and her collaborators suggests that both neuropsychiatric/cognitive risk factors and early experiences, and the witnessing of family violence should be taken into consideration in predicting adult criminal behavior. The research unambiguously points to the harmful effects of physical punishments, which often culmi-

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nate in downright abuse. One could view these data as suggesting that physical punishments and abuse increase the risk of later violent behavior.

CONCLUSIONS AND INTEGRATIVE MODELS

Limitations of the Conclusions A link between punitive and abusive parental behavior and a child’s maladjustment appears to be well-documented, but it is not unequivocal which are the most important parental or family factors in the development of antisocial and criminal behavior. Similarly, the cycle of violence or the intergenerational transmission of violence hypothesis appears to have been validated to some extent, but several unresolved questions remain. The first concerns the developmental mechanism. What is the mechanism that mediates the relationship between negative child-rearing practices, ranging from punitive parental behavior to abuse, and later violent or criminal behavior? An attempt to explain the mechanism using a trauma model will follow below. Another unresolved issue concerns “abuse-resistant” or resilient children who were maltreated but managed to survive without later antisocial, criminal or violent behavior (Kaufman & Zigler, 1993; Kruttschnitt, Ward, & Sheble, 1987; Widom, 1991). It is obvious that not all children who are punished become aggressive (DiLalla et al., 1988) and not all children who are abused become violent offenders (Widom, 1991). Any model addressing development of antisocial or criminal behavior among maltreated children should be able to explain why some children who experience violence do not succumb to criminality later in life. Most reviews of the cycle of violence hypothesis suggest that the severity, frequency, and perpetrator of abuse, the absence or presence of compensatory or protective factors, and the intrinsic vulnerabilities or strengths of the child may play an important role in determining the consequences. Also, those victims of abuse who manage to break the cycle of violence have received more emotional support in childhood, in therapy or in their marital relations and are better able to describe their experiences than those who continue the cycle (Egeland, Jacobvitz, & Sroufe, 1988). They have also been found to harbor less ambivalent feelings about having a child and more determined to take good care of their children (Hunter & Kilstrom, 1979). Hemenway, Solnick, and Carter (1994) found that acknowledgement of childhood abuse as abuse was related to less strict discipline towards one’s own children. It appears that a parent who does not recognize her/his childhood maltreatment as maltreatment or thinks that abuse was justified is likely to identify with the abusing parent and repeat the experiences with her/his own child. Most reviews also agree that childhood maltreatment may lead to a variety of outcomes. It is more difficult to examine which outcomes are directly related to maltreatment and which are mediated or moderated by other factors. For example, child maltreatment may lead to avoidance behavior or aggression, which may result in rejection in peer relationships and gradually becoming a member of juvenile gangs, abusing alcohol and drugs, and then committing a crime. A maltreated child thus becomes an offender, but offending would not be a direct outcome of maltreatment. A sufficient model for explaining for the differential outcomes is lacking. The inconsistent findings concerning the outcomes of maltreatment could, in part, be explained by the different definitions and methodology in the studies. One explanation for the findings showing that negative parenting or maltreatment does not always lead to maladjusted development could lie in the fact that in any study where the participants

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are categorized into groups on the basis of their maltreatment experiences, the groups are not really homogeneous with respect to their experiences. For example, the abused group may consist of individuals who experienced abuse of a widely different quality, ranging from daily physical abuse on the part of both parents to more fortuitous incidents of physical abuse on the part of one parent only. In order to achieve a clearer picture of the link between negative parenting and later development, various parameters of maltreatment should be taken into account in empirical studies, such as the severity, frequency, developmental level and age of the child, life-time duration, and perpetrator of maltreatment. One important parameter is the co-occurrence of several types of maltreatment. For example, as abuse and neglect often overlap, their independent or additive effects may be difficult to analyze. Some studies comparing abused and neglected children have been conducted, however. It has been found that abused children show more aggression than neglected children (Hoffman-Plotkin & Twentyman, 1984). Also, in the Minnesota Mother–Child Project, following a sample of 267 children with at-risk mothers, children who were emotionally neglected during their first two years (n 5 19) did poorly on several measures in elementary school (Erickson & Egeland, 1996). They were rated as being unpopular with peers at school, having learning problems, and exhibiting internalizing problems; they tended to be more withdrawn and inattentive than their physically abused peers (n 5 24). Physically neglected (n 5 24) children were dependent and showed poor impulse control and general maladjustment at preschool age. The study also indicated that the age period (during the first 2 years or between 4 and 6 years) when maltreatment occurred was important; emotional neglect early in life and physical neglect at preschool age resulted in the worst outcomes. McCord (1983) divided 232 men into abused, neglected, rejected, and loved groups based on the childhood evaluations. The study showed that abused and rejected men most likely had had aggressive parents, and abused men had been subjected to excessive demands and that their fathers had been dominating more often than in the other groups. The proportion of men later registered for criminal activity was approximately the same in the abused (39%) and neglected (35%) groups, but higher (53%) in the rejected and lower (23%) in the loved group. On the basis of all the available studies, the safest conclusion to be drawn is to state that all maltreated children are at risk for maladjusted outcomes, regardless of the type of maltreatment. The impact of neglect on child development can perhaps best be understood by examining the early interaction between neglecting parents and their children. Crittenden (1988b) described neglecting families on the basis of clinical observations and noted the mothers’ limited acceptance of adult responsibilites and also their limited competence. Whereas abusing parents were interfering and hostile, these parents were unresponsive and withdrew from difficult situations. They ignored most infant behavior and responded to few of the children’s communicative initiatives. The children often were very passive in infancy and suffered from developmental delays. This neglecting style could also alternate with an abusing pattern of parental behavior. In this parenting style, the periods of neglect and withdrawal from parental responsibilities were interspersed with episodes of power assertion and abuse. These children had to live in an atmosphere of unpredictable parental behavior (Crittenden, 1988a). One limitation relates to the reciprocal nature of parent-child interaction. Some studies have emphasized the impact of child behavior on parental behavior and claimed that children shape the childrearing style of their parents (Lytton, 1990; Rowe, 1994). It could be assumed that deviant child behavior leads to maltreatment rather than the other way around. Also, children raised by aggressive parents may become aggressive partly because

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they share genetically-determined temperamental traits with their parents. These hypotheses are addressed in more detail in a later section. The reliability of memories concerning childhood maltreatment is a methodological concern in the retrospective studies. Usually, the reporting bias appears to be in the direction of underreporting rather than overreporting abuse. Severely abused children may tend to deny or belittle the extent of the extreme violence they have experienced (Della Femina, Yeager, & Lewis, 1990). Kruttschnitt and Dornfeld (1992) interviewed 50 physically abused mothers and their 11–12-year-old children and found that, although young people are able to talk about family violence, being comfortable with this topic is important in providing accurate reports. They also concluded that spousal violence seems to be easier to report than maternal violence among offspring; children do not easily disclose the abuse they are subjected to by their mothers. Berger, Knutson, Mehm, and Perkins (1988) reported that only 43% of the subjects who fractured their bones as a result of abuse reported having been abused. Of those subjects who experienced burns, cuts, dental damage or head injuries, 30–35% stated that they were abused. Likewise, only 10% of the subjects with bruises mentioned abuse as the cause of the injury. These results indicate that not only retrospective recall bias but also the cognitive interpretation of the abusive event has an effect on how accurately abuse is reported. More recently, it has been suggested that limitations in retrospective reports of childhood experiences are not fatal and that adults who recall salient factual details of their childhood (e.g., sibling’s birth, parent’s death) are generally accurate when it comes to unique, consequential and unexpected experiences (Brewin, Andrews, & Gotlib, 1993). Peripheral details and quantitative assessments (e.g., the exact time, frequency, or sequence of the events) may be more susceptible to distortion and forgetting. It is likely that severe abuse or witnessing severe violence are salient enough to be imprinted in the memory. The current position on the reliability of retrospective recall appears to indicate that retrospective reports of childhood maltreatment and parental behavior in general can be accurate and reliable. On the other hand, Henry, Moffitt, Caspi, Langley, and Silva (1994) found that retrospective reports of various psychosocial factors (e.g., family conflict) did not agree well with prospective data. It can be concluded that there is a risk of getting biased and flawed recall of childhood memories, but usually the issue is not so much exaggeration of traumatic experiences than the minimization or denial of them.

Proposed Models for the Mechanism Underlying the Cycle of Violence A number of models attempting to describe the underlying mechanism between negative parenting and antisocial development operate mainly at the level of individual or ontogenic development. Traditionally, the effects of abusive experiences have been explained by insecure attachment as a result of abuse, meaning that an abused child reacts in an avoiding or resisting way to separations from and reunions with the mother (Erickson, Egeland, & Pianta, 1989). It is not clear whether the disruption of the attachment relationship is somehow specific to victims of child maltreatment or is similar to other types of traumatic events (see Kolko, 1996). The second mainstream theory in explaining the impact of abuse, social learning theory, posits that abusive parents provide aggressive models for their offspring (Huesmann & Eron, 1992). McCord (1988) proposed that parental aggressiveness may be transmitted to children in the cycle of aggression by two processes: (1) by teaching them that expressive behavior, including injurious actions, is normal and justified, and (2) by teaching that egocentrism is both normal and virtuous, that is, aggression is permissible in getting others

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to do what one wishes. Patterson’s (1982; Patterson et al., 1992) theory of coercive interaction in the family provides for another learning explanation of aggressive and antisocial behaviors. He postulates that harsh parenting and child characteristics interact in a way which reinforces the vicious cycle of coercion between parent and child. Straus’ (1991) Cultural Spillover Theory could also be included in the learning models of violent behavior, although he does not specify the mechanism by which childhood experiences will be transformed into violent behavior in adulthood. According to the Cultural Spillover Theory (Straus, 1991), violence in one sphere of life, such as in child-rearing, tends to engender violence in other spheres. In child-rearing, physical punishment promotes adult violent behavior. Parents who use nonpunitive childrearing and no physical punishment will have better behaved children, because physical punishment only promotes conformity in the immediate situation but eventually increases the probability of deviance, including delinquency and violent crime. To these explanatory models Dodge, Bates, and Pettit (1990) added a third according to which the impact of harsh discipline or abuse on later aggressive behavior is mediated by the development of biased or deficient ways of processing social information. A child who has been subjected to physical harm may fail to attend to appropriate social cues or may misinterpret them in social interaction. As a result of their experiences, physically harmed children are likely to attribute hostile intentions to others and conceptualize the world in distorted ways that perpetuate the cycle of violence (Dodge et al., 1990). For example, Lochman’s (see, e.g., Lochman & Wells, 1996 ) sociocognitive treatment programs for antisocial children are based on the assumption of the harmful effects of distorted interpretations in social interaction. Fourth, the post-traumatic model of violence links post-traumatic stress disorder with later antisocial or aggressive behavior (Collins & Bailey, 1990; Hodge, 1992; McCormack, Burgess, & Hartman, 1988). One or more traumatic experiences in childhood, such as physical or sexual abuse, may cause short- and long-term effects that can be interpreted as post-traumatic symptoms. Traumatic abuse experiences may result in physiological changes (e.g., “adrenalin high”) which become addictive and may cause the abuse victim to develop an addiction to experiences, for example committing a violent crime, that would lead to the same sort of physiological effect (Hodge, 1992). Fifth, the emotion regulation model could explain some of the post-traumatic and aberrant affective reactions in maltreated children. Those children who are treated in a punitive or abusive way at home are likely to experience intense fear and eventually produce chronic stress that may impair their physical functions (Cicchetti & Lynch, 1993; Lewis, 1992). They may learn to insulate themselves or dissociate themselves from painful experiences which could lead to constricted forms of emotional expression. Due to deficient parental models of emotional expression they may not learn to describe and name their emotions and thereby control and regulate them. Maltreated children may have difficulties in differentiating between various emotions in other persons and in themselves or become hypersensitive to and wary of social stimuli that they have learned to associate with aggression.

A Trauma Model for the Cycle of Violence The parameters of negative parenting and maltreatment are important in the search for a sufficient explanatory mechanism underlying the findings. We call our suggestion a trauma model and maintain that this model does not necessarily preclude any of the above mentioned theories and models. Several other researchers have previously used the concept of trauma in relation to child maltreatment. van der Kolk (1987) described how

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trauma results in alternating hyperarousal/intrusive recollections and numbing/emotional constriction. Intrusive reliving of the trauma may manifest itself in a seemingly voluntary re-enactment of the past event and the numbing response may lead to a complete denial and shunning of all trauma-related emotions (van der Kolk, 1987). Similarly, Burgess, Hartman, McCormack, and Grant (1988) noted that a trauma victim may repeat the abuse by adopting both victim and offender behaviors. Briere (1996) referred to a host of symptoms that child abuse victims share with victims of other traumas, including posttraumatic symptoms, dissociation, avoidance in the form of substance abuse and tensionreducing behaviors, and disturbed relationships with other people. The trauma model states that all extremely negative parenting experiences, including child abuse and neglect, are traumatic events potentially leading to post-traumatic stress symptoms (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). This means that the essential core of all these experiences is similar: the child is exposed to an intense situation that poses a threat to her/his life, health, or physical integrity and which would cause considerable suffering to anyone. It should be noted that a threat to the welfare of the child’s family members (e.g., witnessing family violence) would also meet the criteria of a traumatic event. An emotional sequel of a traumatic experience has been delineated in the diagnostic criteria of PTSD. The intrusion symptoms linked to PTSD include, for example, intrusive flashbulb memories, recurrent nightmares, dissociation, and intense anxiety in traumarelated situations. The avoidance symptoms, in turn, include purposeful avoidance of thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and situations that bring the trauma into mind, amnesia, and numbness of emotional reactions. Third, the arousal symptoms refer to sleep disturbance, irritability and anger, lack of concentration, hyperalertness, fearfulness, and strong physiological reactions in trauma-related situations. All these three categories of symptoms have also been found in maltreated children (see, e.g., Deblinger, Lippmann, & Steer, 1996; Garbarino, Guttmann, & Seeley, 1988; Kendall-Tackett et al., 1993; Kiser, Heston, Millsap, & Pruitt, 1991; Malinosky-Rummell & Hansen, 1993; McLeer, Deplinger, Henry, & Orvaschel, 1992). It has also been noted that PTSD in childhood shares features with behavioral problems typical of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, such as difficulty in concentrating and a persistent state of hyperarousal (Glod & Teicher, 1996). Hyperactivity, in turn, has been found to predict future delinquent and antisocial behavior (Farrington, Loeber, & van Kammen, 1990). Recently, Crittenden (1995) pointed out the similarities between the enmeshed/preoccupied memories of the childhood attachment relationship and the PTSD intrusive symptoms, as well as between the dismissing type memories of attachment and the avoidance symptoms. Both the enmeshed/preoccupied and the dismissing state of mind with respect to the childhood attachment relationships in adulthood have their counterparts in an insecure caregiver-child relationship during childhood. An insecure child-caregiver relationship may result when the caregiver behaves in an unpredictable, inconsistent way or when the caregiver is consistently punitive, hostile or rejecting or withdrawn and unresponsive (Crittenden, 1994, 1995). An insecurely attached child may then have difficulties in learning to regulate their emotions. A child of a consistently punitive or hostile parent will learn how to apply a defensive, avoidant strategy and inhibit their true affects in threatening situations. This behavioral pattern has a striking similarity to the PTSD avoidance symptoms. An avoidant pattern of attachment may be linked to dissociation as a way of coping with trauma, leading to the avoidance of painful childhood recollections of abuse (Egeland & Susman-Stillman, 1996). A child of an inconsistently punitive parent will learn how to be constantly on the alert for the parent’s reactions. If the child expresses angry behavior,

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her mother may gradually become more and more irritated and eventually lashes out at the child, whereupon the child rapidly stops her angry behavior and displays helplessness and fearfulness. Hyperalertness to threatening signals and the interplay between angry and fearful behaviors are also characteristic of PTSD. The trauma model of the cycle of violence interprets the behavioral signs of an insecure attachment relationship as post-traumatic symptoms. When negative parental treatment escalates into abuse, the child will experience an abuse trauma and repeated or very severe traumatic events may lead to post-traumatic reactions. The adult outcomes of these traumatic events, such as antisocial or criminal behavior, could then be regarded as consequences of unresolved traumas. Porter (1996) speculated that the classic Cleckley psychopathy with no sign of true emotions, such as remorse, guilt or empathy, may be a manifestation of affective inhibition resulting from a repeated exposure to traumatic, abusive experiences in childhood. The child learns to turn off painful emotions at the occurrence of abuse, which gradually leads to an increased ability to detach oneself from emotional experiences. In extreme forms, dissociation of affect and cognition would result, leading to the ability to talk about feeling without the ability to feel. Psychopaths are known for their skillful lying and deception that may be related to the fact that for them, empathy, guilt or other emotions do not interfere with cognitive processes. Of course, the possibility of psychopaths having an organic or genetic vulnerability that impedes affective bonding cannot be precluded. Attributions about the trauma may be crucial in determining the nature of outcomes; blaming others could result in developing externalizing symptoms and blaming self might cause internalizing symptoms. Crittenden (1995) theorized that the “blaming others” strategy is more typical of preoccupied individuals who have intrusive and overwhelming recollections of childhood events, while the “shaming” strategy (blaming self) characterizes dismissing individuals who try to avoid painful childhood experiences. For example, Messman and Long (1996) suggested that self-blame in sexual abuse victims may mediate the relationship between childhood victimization and adulthood re-victimization in sexually or physically abusive incidents. Consequences of a sexual abuse trauma may be somewhat different from those of a physical abuse trauma, but the common core for both traumas would be the post-traumatic stress syndrome. Also, it is likely that the severity and reoccurrence (chronicity) of traumatic, abusive events during childhood are important moderator variables in the development of adult outcomes of a trauma. The developmental period during which the child experiences maltreatment should be taken into consideration (Barnett et al., 1993). The familiarity, gender, and number of the perpetrators may also be important parameters. Egeland and Susman-Stillman (1996) suggested that the intensity and chronicity of the abuse may be a possible explanation for the fact that some abused individuals continue the cycle of abuse, idealize their childhood and fail to integrate their abuse experience into their identity, whereas other victims of childhood abuse do not resort to dissociation and succeed in breaking the cycle. The first group might be more severely abused over a long period of time compared to the latter (Egeland & Susman-Stillman, 1996).

Do Biological Vulnerabilities Contribute to the Trauma Model? Some researchers have claimed that some children may be more vulnerable to the consequences of traumatic events or even more susceptible to become targets of punitive and hostile parental behavior, which emphasizes the role of genetic factors and geneenvironment interactions in the parent-child relationships (e.g., DiLalla & Gottesman, 1991; Lytton, 1990; Rowe, 1994). It has been pointed out, for example, that parental

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behavior may respond to a child’s temperamental characteristics and that the child behavioral outcomes related to maltreatment may not be caused by parental treatment but the gene effects and the genetic similarity between parent and child. When thinking of the importance of temperamental differences, it should be born in mind that there is scientific evidence showing that the alleged temperamental characteristics may reflect more a parent’s perception of her/his child than a child’s true characteristics. For example, abusive parents tend to see more problem behavior in their children than nonabusive parents (Bradley & Peters, 1991), misinterpret the child’s behavior as intentionally annoying (Bauer & Twentyman, 1985), perceive child-rearing as difficult (Trickett & Susman, 1988), and to have difficulty in accurately recognizing signals from their infant and responding empathically to these signals (Kropp & Haynes, 1987). Rowe (1994) noted that in Widom’s studies the possible genetic differences between abused and nonabused groups may have contributed to “the cycle of violence.” There appears to be no imperious reason, however, to assume that these groups would have been genetically different from each other. It would also be extremely difficult to predict how traumatic events would interact with temperamental characteristics and produce different effects in the case of different temperaments. On the contrary, when considering PTSD, it has been emphasized that the effects of a traumatic event are quite similar in every case, although individual factors, such as previous psychopathology, social support, and the severity of trauma, may moderate the post-traumatic effects (Breslau, Davis, Andreski, & Peterson, 1991; Speed, Engdahl, Schwartz, & Eberly, 1989). In view of the trauma model, the recent assumptions on the effects of abuse on brain chemistry are interesting. As suggested earlier, traumatic abuse experiences may lead to physiological changes (Hodge, 1992). Studies have indicated that PTSD patients exhibit elevated levels of norepinephrine, which tells about the increased autonomic activity (e.g., Kosten, Mason, Giller, Ostroff, & Harkness, 1987). If traumatic abuse experiences exert an influence on the neurobiology of our brain and if these traumatic experiences are related to later antisocial behavior, the findings concerning the biological correlates of offending might make more sense. The biological correlates of criminal behavior have been examined intensively and a number of researchers have stated that twin and adoption studies as well as the correlative studies of selected offender populations lend support for the biological basis of criminal behavior (Brennan, Mednick, & Volavka, 1995; Virkkunen & Linnoila, 1993). There have been, however, fewer assumptions made on how childhood maltreatment would affect the concentration of neurotransmitters and their metabolites, possibly accounting for the correlative findings among offenders. Probably abuse would produce certain biochemical changes in the human body. This would then explain for the findings of a lowered concentration of bioamine metabolites in the brain. The biochemical consequences of childhood maltreatment could be integrated in the post-traumatic stress model of violent behavior, because traumatic experiences are likely to lead to changes in stress-hormone levels. An initial upsurge in hormonal levels could be assumed, but a repeated exposure to maltreatment could lead to some kind of adaptational process which might result in a decreased sensitivity to stress. Low serotonine metabolite and cortisol levels (Virkkunen, Eggert, Rawlings, & Linnoila, 1996), a lowered pain sensitivity (Se´guin, Pihl, Boulerice, Tremblay, & Harden, 1996), and psychophysiological hyporeactivity (see Brennan et al., 1995) have been reported among aggressive individuals. For example, Stattin and Magnusson (1996) found that persistent criminality, high hyperactivity at the ages of 10 and 13, and low adrenaline excretion in the urine at the age of 13 years was a combination that occurred more often than expected in their sample of 70 males. Moreover, 8 of those 10 males who had the risky combination of high hyperactivity

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and low adrenaline were persistent offenders. The study indicated that low arousal or hyporeactivity assessed with adrenaline excretion was present already in early adolescence among those who committed crimes both in adolescence and in adulthood.

Conclusion One observation concerning the difference between punitive child-rearing and child abuse is in order here. There exists some controversy as to whether mild physical punishment and child abuse belong to the same continuum of violence or whether they are distinct forms of violence. For example, Gelles (1991) suggested that mild physical violence, child abuse and child homicide each require a distinct theoretical explanation. In this review, child abuse is considered as an extreme form of punitive child-rearing mostly for two reasons: (1) coercive and punitive interactions between the parent and the child often precede the abuse incident and mothers at high risk for child abuse use power assertive child-rearing techniques more often than low-risk mothers (Chilamkurti & Milner, 1993), and (2) the consequences of child abuse and punitive child-rearing on child development are remarkably similar in that both are, for example, related to later aggressive, delinquent, and criminal behavior (see, e.g., Lewis et al., 1989; Luntz & Widom, 1994; Malinosky-Rummell & Hansen, 1993; McCord, 1992; Patterson et al., 1992; Rivera & Widom, 1990; Widom, 1989c). By way of summary, harsh punishment in child-rearing appears to increase the risk for maladapted outcomes, such as aggressive, antisocial, violent, and criminal behavior. Both prospective longitudinal and retrospective studies show that power-assertive, punitive, overly lax, rejecting or neglecting child-rearing methods and child abuse are related to antisocial behavior, adult violence, and offending. The experiences of negative parenting and maltreatment may lead to the traumatization of the child, and the consequences of the traumatic events may present themselves in various ways, including antisocial behavior. When realizing the multifarious sequelae of traumatic events, the differential outcomes of child maltreatment become more easily understood. What is missing is information about the variables that mediate and moderate the relationship between trauma and antisocial outcomes. This paper suggested that the parameters of traumatic events may be important variables in determining how the effects evolve. Also, more attention should be devoted to the possible biological consequences of trauma, as they may underlie the biological correlates of criminal behavior. All punished or abused children will not become abusive parents or criminals. But does the absence of childhood trauma guarantee a prosperous and crime-free future? Is it equally true that some children who are raised with positive, love- and reasoning-oriented child-rearing methods and who do not experience maltreatment will commit crimes as adults or abuse their children? If so, under what conditions—for example, another type of trauma–is it possible? Have all offenders experienced a traumatic event or several in their past? Answers to these questions would no doubt strengthen the trauma model of violence transmission.

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