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Violence and Mental Health pp 27–45Cite as

Intergenerational Transmission of Violence

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Abstract

In this chapter, we first describe a number of prominent and frequently cited theories describing how victimized children may grow up to become violent offenders, including social learning, attachment, social information processing, neurophysiological, and behavioral genetics. The second part of this chapter reviews the empirical evidence on the “cycle of violence”, and the final section describes a variety of interventions that might be implemented to “break” the cycle of violence. We provide a vignette to illustrate possible points of intervention in the life of one maltreated child. Finally, we conclude with a brief comment on recommendations for research and practice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, University of New York City, New York City, NY, USA

    Cathy Spatz Widom & Helen W. Wilson

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  1. Cathy Spatz Widom
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  2. Helen W. Wilson
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Correspondence to Cathy Spatz Widom .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Emden, Emden, Germany

    Jutta Lindert

  2. University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Itzhak Levav

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Widom, C.S., Wilson, H.W. (2015). Intergenerational Transmission of Violence. In: Lindert, J., Levav, I. (eds) Violence and Mental Health. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8999-8_2

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