Youth delinquent behaviour within the context of direct and indirect violence within the family

There is extensive research showing how direct or indirect childhood exposure to parental violence increases the risk of subsequent victimization and delinquent behaviour and attitudes. Although there is a growing attention to... [ view full abstract ]

There is extensive research showing how direct or indirect childhood exposure to parental violence increases the risk of subsequent victimization and delinquent behaviour and attitudes. Although there is a growing attention to child abuse one is not always aware of the impact of parental violence on children. The consequences of witnessing domestic violence are large, the children are traumatized and experienced great emotional insecurity. However, it appears that in the Netherlands, three quarters of these children didn’t receive any form of assistance.
In this presentation we show the results on how being a victim or witness (of inter)parental violence influences delinquent behaviour and other risky behaviour such as alcohol or drug use. Are results are based on the International Self Report Study youth delinquency ISRD. The ISRD study is a theory-testing comparative survey of schoolchildren’s in the age of 12-16 years old experience of, and attitudes to, crime and substance use in 35 different European of other countries like the USA, and other south American countries. In this survey we have of three types of indicators of juveniles being a victim or witness of (inter)parental violence. We will present the results of the following topics. What is the proportion of 12-16 year-old reporting direct or indirect exposure to parental violence? Are there differences between the countries in prevalence’s rates of being a victim of maltreatment of parents or being a witness of parental violence and can these differences explained by national government responses to child maltreatment? And is there a relation between youth delinquent behaviour- especially for violent offences – and other problem behaviour and being a witness of parental violence or being a victim of child abuse.