Intergenerational Violence: Connections between Physical and Emotional Sibling Violence in Parents and Children

Background: The intergenerational transmission of violence is well-documented in the intimate partner violence and family violence literature (Egeland, 1993; Woollett & Thompson, 2016), yet, this phenomenon remains underexplored in the domain of physical and emotional sibling violence (PESV). As such, this research examines the association between parental experiences of PESV in childhood and what PESV parents have observed between their children. The aims of this study were twofold: (1) to assess whether parental experiences of PESV in childhood, witnessed SV between their children, and parental ACEs are associated with each other; (2) to explore the influence of parental experiences of PESV on childhood witnessed SV between their children while controlling for adverse childhood events (ACEs), current demographics, and demographics from parents’ families in childhood.

Methods: Participants for the sample were recruited from the Qualtrics research market services platform from their repository of individuals who engage in research. that had at least one sibling in childhood and that had at least two children. A sample of 146 participants was included in the analysis, with 55.5% identifying as female, 63% having at least a bachelor’s degree, and 20.5% being non-Caucasian. Participants completed an anonymous survey which included: demographics questions, ACEs questionnaire, and the Frequency of Behaviors Experienced with Sibling in Childhood and Witnessed between Children questionnaire (Perkins, 2014).

Results: All correlations between ACEs Total score, ACEs Abuse subscore, ACEs Neglect subscore, ACEs Household Challenges subscore, frequency of PESV behaviors participant experienced with sibling in childhood, and frequency of PESV behaviors witnessed between their children were significant (p<.001). Additionally, three regression models (Model 1-negative childhood events; Model 2-Model 1 & current family context; Model 3-Model 2 & childhood family context) were run on frequency of PESV behaviors witnessed between their children. In the first model (F=134.17, p<.001), both frequency of PESV in childhood (p<.001) and ACEs Abuse subscore (p<.05) significantly predicted the frequency of PESV behaviors witnessed in participants’ children. In the second model (F=54.39, p<.001), frequency of PESV in childhood (p<.001) and participants having an associate degree or less (p<.05) were significantly associated with frequency of PESV behaviors witnessed in participants’ children. In the final model (F=18.06, p<.001), frequency of SV in childhood (p<.001), ACEs Abuse subscore (p<.05), and participants having an associate degree or less (p<.05) were the only predictors of the frequency with which participants witnessed PESV behaviors in their children.

Conclusion/Implications: This research is among the first to examine the connection between PESV parents experienced in childhood and PESV parents have witnessed between their children. Findings highlight that there may be intergenerational connections between experiences of PESV. The correlation between parental PESV in childhood and parental witnessing of PESV in their children was strong, highlighting a potential connection between what parents experience with their siblings and what they later witness between their children (Perkins, 2014). The findings from this research suggest that social work assessments and interventions related to PESV should consider a potential intergenerational effect, as two-generational support for both caregivers and youth may be warranted.