the trauma research indicates that family violence, that by the
child's original caretakers is much more destructive than any of the
others. All of the ACEs in the original study were centered on the
child's ability to attach to a responsive adult. For example, watching
a father beat up the mother interferes with the mother being able to
effectively provide the needed care taking. She is centered on the
husband and deterring his violence to provide for the child.
Working with domestically violent men in prison, the men were all
races and all classes. The key was their family violence. these men
had experienced 4 or more ACES some 8 or 10. I am not denying that the
other experiences are traumatic but saying that the violence of
offenders is more often due to their family violence as children. If
you wanted to identify how the violence is transmitted from one
generation to another, I don't understand why you wouldn't look at the
psychological effects (neurological and cognitive) of early childhood
trauma (family) to see the link between being a child victim and
becoming an adult victimizer.
Family violence is what I am interested in stopping and the key is
being a victim of family violence. The men who were traumatized by
racism and/or violent neighborhoods usually also had other ACES in
their family and troubles with intimacy.
I don't understand why others are not more interested in these
psychological effects. I know sometimes others do not want to look at
the offenders as adult survivors of childhood abuse but I think it is
imperative. Racism is another problem.
Linda Nauth
