Suffering abuse in childhood progressively increases the risk of suffering domestic violence in adulthood

It may seem strange that having been a victim of abuse as a child increases the chances of suffering from the same problem as you age, but a new study corroborates it and details the circumstances that make it possible.

The research was carried out by a team led by Patrizia Pezzoli, from University College London in the United Kingdom.

For the research, Pezzoli and his colleagues analyzed data from 12,794 participants born in England and Wales, participating in the TEDS study (Twins Early Development Study).

TEDS began in 1994 and has followed twins and twins born in England and Wales throughout their childhood, adolescence and early adulthood. The twins and their families answered questionnaires about different environmental and individual factors that could have influenced them throughout their lives.

By studying differences between pairs of twins and twin pairs, researchers use data to better understand the extent to which genes and the environment affect people’s abilities, behaviors, and mental health.

In the new study, researchers found that participants who reported being maltreated in childhood (having experienced physical violence, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, and/or neglect (physical or psychological)) were three times more likely to experience domestic violence. of their partner or spouse at age 21, compared to their peers without that tragic childhood. And the increase was clearly greater than that attributable to exclusively genetic and environmental factors.

Suffering from childhood abuse is a problem with many negative effects for the victim. (Illustration: Amazings/NCYT)

Furthermore, the risk of domestic abuse continued to increase over time. And by the time participants turned 26, they were four times more likely to have experienced violence from a partner or spouse if they had been abused in childhood, compared to their peers of the same age without such a fateful childhood.

“Our results coincide with those of previous research, which indicates a three to six times greater risk of suffering intimate partner violence among those who have suffered abuse in childhood,” says Pezzoli. “However, our finding that this risk can accumulate over time is novel.”

Pezzoli and his colleagues interpret this increase as a consequence of the fact that people exposed to abuse often face social isolation imposed by their abusers. This, in childhood, leads to fewer opportunities to socialize when they grow up, which potentially increases their vulnerability to insecure relationships over time, since by lacking friends and not having strong enough social ties with their relatives, they do not They can receive the help that they would receive even without asking for it if they had a good social network.

In this way, the isolation to which abusers subject their spouses is reinforced by the previous isolation to which the father, mother or both subjected the victim in their childhood. And with the passage of time, the lack of contact with relatives and other people with whom the victim had a relationship increases the distance and further isolates the victim, making it increasingly easier for the abuser to act as such.

The study is titled “Causal and common risk pathways linking childhood maltreatment to later intimate partner violence victimization.” And it has been published in the academic journal Molecular Psychiatry. (Fountain: NCYT by Amazings)