There is no causal relationship between having suffered gender-based violence in childhood and future violence

SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES:

• Widom, C. S. (1989). The cycle of violence. Science, 244(4901), 160-166   https://science.sciencemag.org/content/244/4901/160/tab-pdf
• Margolin, G., & Gordis, E. B. (2000). The effects of family and community violence on children. Annual review of psychology, 51(1), 445-479. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.psych.51.1.445?journalCode=psych#_i6
• Holt, S., Buckley, H., & Whelan, S. (2008). The impact of exposure to domestic violence on children and young people: A review of the literature. Child abuse & neglect, 32(8), 797-810. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0145213408001348
• Oliver, E., Merodio, G., & Melgar, P. (2021). Preventive socialisation of intimate partner violence through the analysis of family interactions and previous intimate relationships. In The Routledge International Handbook of Domestic Violence and Abuse (pp. 141-154). Routledge.

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COMMENT:

The idea that children who have been victims of violence and have been exposed to it in their homes will be violent, has become a common belief of many education professionals, and this statement revictimizes these children and increases their suffering trajectories.

It is not true that scientific evidence has found a consistent link with the perpetuation of violence.

Some scientific evidence in this regard:

Widom, C. S. (1989). The cycle of violence. Science, 244(4901), 160-166. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/244/4901/160/tab-pdf

This is about the link between child victimization and subsequent antisocial and violent behavior  that is far from certain, and the intergenerational transmission of violence is not inevitable

Margolin, G., & Gordis, E. B. (2000). The effects of family and community violence on children. Annual review of psychology, 51(1), 445-479. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.psych.51.1.445?journalCode=psych#_i6

Holt, S., Buckley, H., & Whelan, S. (2008). The impact of exposure to domestic violence on children and young people: A review of the literature. Child abuse & neglect, 32(8), 797-810. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0145213408001348

Even the studies that did find some correlation in the 1990s do not provide any causal relationship, what they say is that it could be considered a logical theoretical link between the experience of physical abuse in early life and the later development of aggressive behaviour; they do not claim that it exists, but that this is the approach of some theorists.

OTHER SOURCES: