The Intergen project: Preliminary results of a criminological survey investigating the Intergenerational Transmission of Violence

• In Event: Intergenerational Criminology, Panel 1. Family and Intergenerational Perspectives

Abstract

As the primary socialising environment, the family is central to the development of the individual. When parents (generation 1, G1) use violence against their children (G2), this can, in combination with possible other environmental influences, lead to the transmission of violent behaviour, whereby the victimised parents (G2) in turn raise their children (G3) in a violent manner. These transmission processes are analysed in the project The Intergenerational Transmission of Violence (Intergen).
In the course of the study, parents (G2) who were originally part of the sample of the panel study Crime in the Modern City (CrimoC), conducted in Duisburg, Germany, between 2002 and 2019, are interviewed in the form of a criminological survey. The study examines how certain transmission pathways work and what influence different factors such as attitudes regarding parenting behaviours, personality traits, or social support have on the (non-)transmission of violent parental behaviour. In addition, a neurobiological investigation of parent-child dyads is being conducted on a sub-sample in order to examine the effects of parental behaviour (G2) on child development (G3) at both the biological and psychological levels. This presentation will introduce the Intergen study in more detail and discuss the first wave of the survey, which was conducted in 2023. In addition to information on the sample and the response rate, first preliminary results of the criminological survey will be presented.

Authors

• Patricia John Sánchez, ehs University of Applied Sciences for Social Work, Education and Nursing, Dresden

• Christina Beckord, ehs University of Applied Sciences for Social Work, Education and Nursing, Dresden