The Cycle of Violence Through an International Lens: Insights from the International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD3)

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

The panel reports on the findings from questionnaires completed by 62,636 12-16 year olds in 27 countries, regarding children’s exposure to parental force (both mild and more severe, and both direct and indirect), and the effects on violent attitudes and behaviour. The questionnaires are part of the International Self-Report Delinquency Study ISRD3), an international collaborative study collecting data on juvenile delinquency and victimization. The ISRD uses a standardized self-report survey conducted in school settings among students in grades 7, 8 and 9 (or equivalent grades for children in the age bracket 12-16), randomly selected from schools in two medium or large cities.
The panel consists of 4 papers, examining different dimensions of how parental use of physical violence on their children is related to the children’s attitudes and behavior. Two of the papers also explore how exposure to indirect parental violence (fights and conflicts between parents) may impact children who witness this behavior. The unique contribution of the panel is that it provides empirical data on the use of physical violence by parents drawn from a very broad range of countries, using comparable standardized measures. The papers will discuss the implications for the generalizability of the cycle of violence’ thesis.

Sub Unit

• Area V. Types of Offending / 18. Family and Intimate Partner Violence

Individual Presentations

• Experience of Parental Violence, and Attitudes and Emotions Regarding use of Violence among a Cross-national Sample of 12-16 Year Olds: Does Gender Make a Difference? - Christopher E. Marshall, University of Nebraska, Omaha; Ineke Haen Marshall, Northeastern University; Stuti Subbaiah Kokkalera, Northeastern University

• Parental Maltreatment as the Causes of the Causes of Youth Delinquency - Majone Steketee, Verwey-Jonker Institute and Erasmus University; Claire Aussems, Verwey-Jonker Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Dirk Enzmann, Hamburg University, Germany

• Are the Effects of Parental Maltreatment of Children on Delinquency Invariant Across Countries? - Claire Aussems, Verwey-Jonker Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Majone Steketee, Verwey-Jonker Institute and Erasmus University

• Prevalence and Predictors of Parental Violence Against Children and Juveniles in an International Perspective - Dirk Enzmann, Hamburg University, Germany; Ineke Haen Marshall, Northeastern University; Majone Steketee, Verwey-Jonker Institute and Erasmus University

Chair

• Majone Steketee, Verwey-Jonker Institute and Erasmus University

Discussant

• Cathy Spatz Widom, The Graduate Center, John Jay College / CUNY