Childhood Sexual Abuse and the Perpetration of Violence: The Moderating Role of Gender

Abstract

This study sought to increase specificity in our knowledge of links among child sexual abuse (CSA), aggression, and physical intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration by criminal offenders, with particular interest in gender. Participants were 202 men and 72 women ( N = 274), who were recruited from an urban pretrial supervision program. Women reported higher rates of CSA than men. After controlling for relevant covariates, CSA was associated with general aggression and severe IPV. We found a gender by CSA interaction; CSA was associated with aggression and severe IPV for women, but not men. Findings provide preliminary evidence that CSA impacts aggression and IPV perpetration differently for

Succumbing to the Call of Violence – Sex-Linked Development of Appetitive Aggression in Relation to Familial and Organized Violence

“…Moreover, our findings are supported by two longitudinal studies that demonstrate different trajectories for males and females in the transmission from child abuse to adult crime ( Jung et al, 2015 ; Lee et al, 2015 ). However, our results also stand in contrast to a number of studies presenting a stronger positive association between adverse childhood experiences and aggression for females than for males ( Calvete and Orue, 2013 ; Trabold et al, 2015 ) and with studies who did not find evidence for sex-specific pathways ( Arata et al, 2007 ; Topitzes et al, 2012 ). These inconsistent findings with respect to sex-specific pathways in the development of aggression are likely to arise from several methodological and conceptual differences between the studies: In most retrospective studies, participants had been selected because of their involvement in the criminal justice system based on official documents, such as court records ( Topitzes et al, 2012 ; Trabold et al, 2015 ).…”

“…Moreover, aggression-related outcome variables varied between the studies ranging from different types of aggressive behavior to crime or violent offending. Studies directly measuring criminal behavior such as specifically intimate partner violence ( Trabold et al, 2015 ), acts of delinquency ( Arata et al, 2007 ) or using official court records as outcome variable ( Topitzes et al, 2012 ) were those that did not find evidence for sex-specific pathways. However, there is one exception: Lee et al (2015) assessed different types of law-violating behavior over the year prior to the study and found sex-specific trajectories.…”

“…In contrast, other studies found a direct association between exposure to family violence and subsequent proactive aggression only for adolescent females ( Calvete and Orue, 2013 ). Accordingly, child sexual abuse was related to increased frequency of aggressive acts in women but not in men ( Trabold et al, 2015 ). Moreover, others reported no sex differences for the relation between child abuse and adolescent delinquency or adult crime ( Arata et al, 2007 ; Topitzes et al, 2012 ).…”

Child Abuse and Neglect, and Psychiatric Disorders in Nonviolent and Violent Female Offenders

“…First, the majority of studies have been cross-sectional, relying heavily on retrospective self-reports of childhood victimization (Browne et al 1999;Harlow 1999;Lynch et al 2012;McClellan et al 1997;Pflugradt et al 2017;Zlotnick 1997), which is potentially problematic because of problems with forgetting, reconstruction of memory, and inconsistencies in reports over time (Brewin et al 1993;Henry et al 1994;Offer et al 2000;Schraedley et al 2002). Second, many studies (e.g., Ogloff et al 2012;Papalia et al 2017;Siegel and Williams, 2003;Trabold et al 2015) have focused on only one type of abuse (sexual), rather than multiple types. Third, many studies lack comparison or control groups, which are important to understand differences between offenders and nonoffenders (Arboleda-Florez et al 1998;Walsh et al 2002).…”

Childhood Trauma and Dissociative Intimate Partner Violence

“…The extant literature on IPV, as well as clinical best practices, suggest that childhood abuse and neglect (CAN), including childhood physical, sexual, and emotional abuse; exposure to domestic violence (DV); and exposure to emotional and physical neglect, is a key risk factor for perpetration of IPV as an adult. Some research demonstrates a direct relationship between CAN and adult IPV, particularly for female perpetrators of IPV (e.g., Fang & Corso, 2008; Flemke, Underwood, & Allen, 2014; Trabold, Swogger, Walsh, & Cerulli, 2015) and survivors of childhood sexual abuse (e.g., Fang & Corso, 2008; Jennings, Richards, Tomsich, & Gover, 2015; McMahon et al, 2015; Teitelman et al, 2017). Other research proposes mediators or moderators between CAN and IPV perpetration such as emotion dysregulation (Gratz, Paulson, Jakupcak, & Tull, 2009), anger expression and stress reactivity (Maneta, Cohen, Schulz, & Waldinger, 2012), a hostile-dominant interpersonal style (Edwards, Dixon, Gidycz, & Desai, 2014; Murphy & Blumenthal, 2000), attachment anxiety (Brassard, Darveau, Péloquin, Lussier, & Shaver, 2014), and psychopathic traits (Swogger, Walsh, Kosson, Cashman-Brown, & Caine, 2012).…”