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Exposure to Family Violence in Childhood and Intimate Partner Perpetration or Victimization in Adulthood: Exploring Intergenerational Transmission in Urban Thailand

NCJ Number
230081
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 25 Issue: 3 Dated: April 2010 Pages: 337-347
Author(s)
Kent R. Kerley; Xiaohe Xu; Bangon Sirisunyaluck; Joseph M. Alley
Date Published
April 2010
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study examined the dinterrelationship between childhood exposure to violence in the family of origin in urban Thailand and subsequent psychological and physical perpetration and subsequent psychological and physical victimization.
Abstract
Investigators who study intimate partner violence have long recognized a relationship between exposure to violence in the family of origin and subsequent offending and victimization in the family context. This relationship holds not only for direct exposure (i.e., experiencing violence), but also for indirect exposure (i.e., witnessing violence against a parent or sibling). Typically, this relationship has been attributed to a social learning process that results in the intergenerational transmission of family violence. In this study, the authors explore intergenerational transmission in a sample of 816 married women in Bangkok, Thailand to determine how childhood exposure to violence in the family of origin is related to intimate partner perpetration and victimization during adulthood. The author's results show that there are indeed long-term and significant effects of childhood exposure to family violence on the likelihood of Thai women's psychological and physical intimate partner perpetration. However, these effects appear to be indirect. Additionally, our results demonstrate a direct association between childhood exposure to parental intimate partner violence and subsequent psychological and physical victimization in adulthood. Figure, tables, and references (Published Abstract)