Child Maltreatment and Future Violence: Controlling the Cycle

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

Research on the “cycle of violence” has produced an impressive knowledge base to guide programs and policies designed to reduce the long-term effects of child maltreatment. Two broad findings are consistently featured in this research: 1) young adults that engage in violence were often abused as children, but 2) most children that are abused do not go on to engage in violence in young adulthood. The challenge, then, is to determine what separates abused children who go on to engage in violence from abused children who do not. We argue that self-control is an important concept for understanding the resiliency of abused children. Using a sample of previously abused youth from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we determine whether levels of self-control are predictive of engaging in violent behaviors. More broadly, we determine whether levels of self-control are important toward breaking the cycle of violence. We discuss the implications of our work for continued research on the cycle of violence as well as for programs designed to overcome the negative effects of child maltreatment.

Authors

• Stephanie Morse, Arizona State University

• Evan Booth, Arizona State University

• Kevin Wright, Arizona State University