Recent research into family functioning has highlighted a previously neglected type of family violence, that where parents are the maltreated. This has been called the "missing link" between child abuse and spouse abuse in theories of domestic violence and may help to explain the continuity of violence over generations. University students (n=469) completed the Conflict Tactic Scale and a Childhood History Questionnaire giving details on tactics employed during the previous year and information about their childhood, respectively. Overall, 14.5 percent of students reported using violent tactics with their mother or father and 3.8 percent admitted to being severely violent to one or both of their parents. The conflict tactics used by the respondent were significantly related to the reported tactics of their parents and the experience of being maltreated by parents in earlier years. Tables, figures, references