Bulletin

Issue: July/August 2007

News

Challenging’cycle of violence’ theory on parenting

A Bendigo social research study is challenging the weight given to the widely accepted ‘cycle of violence’ theory – which hypothesises that children who have experienced violence at the hands of their parents tend to grow up to become violent parents themselves.

The study suggests the reverse: that women who have experienced childhood violence are far more likely to reject violence as a parenting ‘solution’ when they become mothers themselves.

The researcher, Bendigo social worker Ms Kathy Mendis, interviewed nine regional women who had experienced various forms of family violence during childhood – including physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, and witnessing violence between parents.

She collected stories of their childhoods and their subsequent mothering experiences, shedding new light on the impact of their experience of violence as children. Ms Mendis conducted the research as part of her Masters degree in Social Work at the Bendigo campus.

‘All of the women interviewed demonstrated a determination that what they had experienced would never happen to their own children, and had gone to great lengths to ensure this,’ Ms Mendis said.

The study did reveal that the women’s mothering was affected by their childhood exposure to family violence in several ways, including direct emotional impacts such as experiencing anxiety and stress when placed in a situation that drew back memories of their childhood experiences.

The findings encouraged social workers and health care personnel to appreciate that woman exposed to family violence in childhood do have specific issues with their mothering, and there is a need to address these.