This finding could not be explained by other factors in the person’s background, and suggests that if the families of young boys who grow up in violent households are better supported, this could prevent some future violent or abusive relationships.
Researchers used data from 3,243 families in Bristol’s Children of the 90s study to investigate the risk of young men or women (aged 18-21) becoming perpetrators of intimate partner violence and abuse (IPVA). They analysed the risk by looking at their mothers’ IPVA victimisation and perpetration status by age 18.
The study, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, found the strongest relationship was between physical parental IPVA and perpetration among young male adults, where 21.3% of those who grew up around parental IPVA perpetrated IPVA, compared to 13.8% of those who did not.
Therefore, perpetration was 54% more likely for those who grew up around parental IPVA, and after accounting for background differences, such as family education or affluence, they were 43% more likely to perpetrate IPVA.
The research estimated that this physical parental IPVA accounted for up to one in ten cases of young male perpetration, with most of these cases being represented by young males who grew up around both parental physical IPVA and were maltreated themselves during childhood.
Intimate partner violence and abuse (IPVA) - physical, sexual, or psychological abuse (including controlling behaviours), between current or past intimate partners – affects one in three women globally*, with the potential to be physically and mentally damaging across generations. It is estimated that a quarter of UK adults have grown up in a household where IPVA has taken place.
Links between parental IPVA and young adult IPVA had been found in previous studies in other countries, but has relied on young people having witnessed IPVA between their parents, and recalling this from decades earlier.
The aim of the study was to get a more reliable estimate for the relationship between parental IPVA and young adult IPVA, where parental IPVA was reported by the parents at the time, and specifically for a UK population.
The research also explored the role of other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as child maltreatment, or parental mental health problems, in contributing to this risk, as ACEs are more likely for families with parental IPVA.
Dr Annie Herbert, Sir Henry Wellcome Research Fellow at the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit in the Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences (PHS), and the study’s lead author, said: “Our findings suggest that interventions that aim to reduce risks of IPVA could target young boys, such as teaching healthy ways to handle difficult emotions or conflict and about healthy relationships.
“However, whilst our results are very important – the risk of young men or women becoming perpetrators of IPVA was relatively low at 16-21%.
“Services supporting families who experience IPVA should consider wider adversity which increases risk of future IPVA outcomes.”
The research team suggest further work is needed to better understand the pathways between parental physical IPVA and this perpetration and ways to intervene. However, this would need large datasets that have adequately collected this information, as well as detailed accounts from vulnerable families.
The study is part of a wider programme of research, the Young Adult Relationships and Health (YARAH) study funded by the UK Medical Research Council, and led by researchers at the University’s Centre for Academic Primary Care and the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit.
Paper
‘The impact of parental intimate partner violence and abuse (IPVA) on IPVA in young adult relationships up to two decades later: a UK general population cohort study’ by Annie Herbert et al. in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe [open access]