Widom C S
Department of Criminal Justice, Indiana University, Bloomington 47405.
Science. 1989 Apr 14;244(4901):160-6. doi: 10.1126/science.2704995.
Despite widespread belief that violence begets violence, methodological problems substantially restrict knowledge of the long-term consequences of childhood victimization. Empirical evidence for this cycle of violence has been examined. Findings from a cohort study show that being abused or neglected as a child increases one's risk for delinquency, adult criminal behavior, and violent criminal behavior. However, the majority of abused and neglected children do not become delinquent, criminal, or violent. Caveats in interpreting these findings and their implications are discussed in this article.
尽管人们普遍认为暴力会引发暴力，但方法上的问题严重限制了我们对童年受害长期后果的了解。关于这种暴力循环的实证证据已经得到检验。一项队列研究的结果表明，童年时期遭受虐待或忽视会增加一个人犯罪、成年后犯罪行为以及暴力犯罪行为的风险。然而，大多数遭受虐待和忽视的儿童并不会走上犯罪或暴力的道路。本文讨论了解释这些发现及其影响时需要注意的事项。
