7 Comments
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Ken's avatar

My spouse and I have worked very hard to break many cycles from our childhood. It’s possible and takes awareness, discipline, and empathy

Reut Avinun, PhD's avatar

Thank you for sharing! It's definitely possible and apparently it's more common than we tend to think.

ANA B. ⏳ - LOVE LEARNED LATER's avatar

So happy to hear this!!

Dr. Bob’s IT DEPENDS's avatar

Did any of the studies also include any genetic markers like temperaments?

The big hole in most studies is they only looked at environmental factors. A sociopathic

Parent’s temperament shows in the traits as it does in the child’s giving a genetic reason for abuse and fitting reasons for the distribution of the outcomes.

Reut Avinun, PhD's avatar

I don't think so, and of course I agree that genetics plays a major role in these cycles. But they don't have causal claims, they just look at what happens between generations.

Dr. Bob’s IT DEPENDS's avatar

So one variable, environmental, no genetic input. I’ve always thought you must have no empathy nor impulse control to abuse.

Reut Avinun, PhD's avatar

The meta-analysis is only observational, they don't say what causes abuse, although they did try to have a discussion about potential protective factors.

All traits are genetically influenced (the first law of behavioral genetics, Turkheimer, 2000), but they are also influenced by the environment.

I'm guessing abuse will be affected by several traits, beliefs, and environmental factors: self-control, empathy, values, social support, substance abuse, financial resources, etc...