Children of violence

Press, 23 August 1979, Page 22

Children of violence

Violent parents often produced violent children, said Dr R. J. Church, at the Early Childhood, Care and Development Convention in Christchurch yesterday. “Children who are brought up in violent marriages have less than a 50 per cent chance of growing into normal, non-violent adults,” he said. If parents fight a lot their children will probably become disturbed, according to Dr Church. “British studies have shown that 40 per cent or more of children brought up in homes where there is continual strife between parents are likely to develop disturbed and anti-social behaviour. Where one of the parents has a personality

disorder or is regularly violent towards the other parent, the figure can climb as high as 60 or 70 per cent.” A good day in a violent home was described as a day when nobody was injured. A significant proportion of children lived with abuse, violence, and obscene language every day, Dr Church said.

The longer the child stayed in this sort of home t’..e more disturbed he was likely to become. Boys were ore seriously affected than girls, he said. “Studies have shown that 50 per cent of battering husbands come from homes where their own mother was regularly assaulted.” “ . . . Mothers who stayed with their violent husbands are now watching their children grow into adulthood with the same personality

disorder as their father,” Dr Church said. While marital violence remained a hidden problem, the children affected by it coulc. be identified at an early age. “One of the most obvious things is that they are prone to violent outbursts and have difficulty in receiving and giving affection,” he said. One remedy Dr Church suggested was to give more support to the parents who wanted to get away from a violent partner. Dr Church is a lecturer in education at the University c' Canterbury and was one of the original organisers of the Battered Women’s Support Group. His paper was one of 34 research projects presented by the New Zealand speakers at the convention yesteN day.