Intergenerational transmission of violence - Characteristics of intergenerational transmission in domestic violence

In the four largest cities in the Netherlands a large long-term cohort study into intergenerational transmission of domestic violence has been conducted. This study focuses on the effects of different kinds of domestic... [ view full abstract ]

In the four largest cities in the Netherlands a large long-term cohort study into intergenerational transmission of domestic violence has been conducted. This study focuses on the effects of different kinds of domestic violence (interparental violence and child maltreatment) on the development of family relations and coping strategies of family members. The first cohort within this study started in 2010, and so far 211 parents and 396 children from families with serious psychological and physical violence, have been followed for 18 months. The first three waves of data showed that many families are not offered treatment, and when they do get treatment, this is often ineffective: half of the respondents indicated that their partner is still violent after 18 months. Positive results were that parenting stress and children’s posttraumatic stress symptoms decreased over this time period. All together these results suggest that a long-term pattern of violence in families can only be treated by specialized professionals. A fourth wave of data has been collected in 2016, and at the ISPCAN conference results of this 4^th measurement will be presented.