Breaking the cycle of intergenerational abuse: A qualitative interview study of men participating in a perinatal program to reduce violence

Abstract

Domestic violence and abuse in the perinatal period leads to long-term adverse outcomes for infants, including a greater risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of violence in adulthood. Examining men's beliefs about fatherhood and violence, and their motivations for engaging in programs to reduce violence, is essential to understand how interventions can impact on behavior and break intergenerational cycles of abuse. The aim of this study was to explore the experience of becoming a father in a sample of men who are taking part in a wholefamily perinatal program to reduce violence-For Baby's Sake. Ten men who had engaged with For Baby's Sake were interviewed about their experiences and beliefs around fatherhood. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Four themes were identified: making sense of violent behavior, conceptions of fatherhood, an emotional transition, and breaking the cycle. The data provide a unique insight into men's beliefs and behaviors at this transition point in their lives. This can aid the development of interventions aimed at breaking the cycle of abuse, indicating ways to harness the motivation for a new start and support men to overcome unhelpful behavior patterns. K E Y W O R D S domestic violence and abuse, fatherhood, perinatal mental health 1 INTRODUCTION Prevalence estimates for domestic violence and abuse (DVA) in the perinatal period range from 3% to 30% (Van Parys, Verhamme, Temmerman, & Verstraelen, 2014). Alongside the poor physical and mental health outcomes for women (Howard, Oram, Galley, Trevillion, & Feder, This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

‘It's so beneficial to be able to stop the cycle’: Perceptions of intergenerational transmission of violence and parenting practices among pregnant women and their abusive partners

“…Consequently, this analysis highlighted an intergenerational transmission of violence in several of the narratives of the participants. This finding aligns with other work with fathers who commit DVA (Domoney & Trevillion, 2021).…”

Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse: A Qualitative Exploration of UK Military Personnel and Civilian Partner Experiences

“…Kohn 2010 ; Simpson et al, 2008 ), but a growing body of evidence now suggests that working with both partners can be very effective (Taft et al, 2016 ), e.g. when motivations for help occur within the context of parenting (Domoney & Trevillion, 2021 ). Furthermore, our findings highlight a need for perpetrator programmes to be tailored to female as well as male partners.…”

“…Bidirectional abuse was especially prominent in those reporting dual military relationships, a group currently under-represented in the military literature. The impact of such 'toxic relationships', in which bidirectional abuse occurs, on the individual partners as well as others in the household, especially children, is not sufficiently recognised (Domoney & Trevillion, 2021;Zemp et to local lockdown rules and social distancing, travel limitations and other stressors such as financial instability.…”

“…The impact of IPVA can be severe and widespread, marking it is as a public health issue and global health priority (WHO, 2012). In addition to affecting the physical and mental health of victim-survivors (Campbell, 2002 ), IPVA can affect social and occupational functioning (Hines & Douglas, 2018 ; Johnson et al, 2014 ) and have a long-term negative impact on children who are witnesses to domestic abuse (Domoney & Trevillion, 2021 ; Jouriles & McDonald, 2015 ). There is a cost to society of IPVA, with an estimated £66 billion spent on victim-survivors of domestic abuse in England and Wales between March 2016 and March 2017 (Oliver et al, 2019 ).…”

Patterns of adverse childhood experiences among Chinese preschool parents and the intergenerational transmission of risk to offspring behavioural problems: moderating by coparenting quality

“…Studies have shown that high coparenting quality may buffer parenting stress (Durtschi et al, 2017 ; Steele et al, 2016 ), and more supportive coparenting is significantly associated with fewer behavioural problems among children (Choi & Becher, 2019 ). Research has also established that high coparenting quality may improve parenting strategies, and thus, may break the cycle of intergenerational abuse or trauma (Domoney & Trevillion, 2021 ; Narayan et al, 2019 ). Therefore, it is plausible to believe that high coparenting quality may exert a protective role that buffers against the intergenerational transmission of ACEs from parents to preschoolers’ behavioural problems.…”