What the Literature Tells Us: Relationships between Family Violence, School Behavior Problems, Juvenile Delinquency, and Adult Crime.

This paper constructs a multi-systemic picture of the impact of family violence on children, families, and society through a review of the empirical literature in these areas and their inter-relationships. Findings from the review include: (1) the experience of physical abuse has been associated with aggression toward others, children who have been sexually abused have been shown to exhibit more maladaptive sexual behavior, and children who have been psychologically abused experience low self-esteem; (2) infants and young children who have been physically abused have been found to play less when compared with nonabused infants and show less positive affect; (3) 82 percent of men who had witnessed parental spouse abuse in one study were also victims of child abuse; (5) children who have been physically abused have been found to display poor school adjustment and academic performance; (6) children who have been physically neglected have been reported to manifest more behavior problems and have greater school difficulties; and (8) students with delinquency referral have been found to have higher rates of abuse. (Contains 37 references.) (CR)