NCJ Number
196728
Journal
Journal fo the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 41 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2002 Pages: 1095-1103
Date Published
September 2002
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article discusses a study that examined whether children whose parents engaged in domestic violence were at a genetic risk for behavior problems.
Abstract
When parents engage in frequent and intense conflicts, their children are likely to suffer from elevated levels of both internalizing and externalizing problems. It is widely assumed that children of domestic violence are at a risk to develop behavior problems because of their detrimental environment. But behavioral geneticists have offered an alternative explanation: that domestic violence is simply a market for genetic predisposition to behavioral problems that the parents will pass to their children. In other words, behavioral geneticists suggest that children of domestic violence may develop behavioral problems because of their parents’ genes rather than the environment. The study showed that domestic violence has an environmental effect on children’s behavior problems distinct from genetic factors. The study highlights the importance of including measured environmental risk factors in genetically sensitive designs. The study concludes that genetic and environmental factors influence whether the child of domestic violence will develop behavior problems. The study concludes that genetic and environmental factors affect each other. For example, genetically vulnerable children may be the most susceptible to the environmental effects of domestic violence. Tables, figures, references