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Annotated Bibliography

Why do some adult child abuse victims grow up and abuse other people?

Courtney Cole

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1103-H

October 17, 2015

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Deans, Emily. A Gene For Violence? Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, 30 Oct.
2014. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
This article from Psychology Today, which is a popular source, examines the link
between the genetic cause for violent behavior and the resulting violent behavior
in people. The main question that the article asks is are we genetically
programmed to be timid or violent? The article addresses the warrior gene,
which is the combination between MAOA and CDH 13 genes. Basically, the
MAOA gene can have lesser active enzymes, which produces more
neurotransmitters such as dopamine and norepinephrine also known as the
emotional chemicals in our bodies. The neurotransmitters that are produced due to
the lesser active enzyme levels increase the likelihood of violent behavior in an
individual. The CDH13 gene contains a risk allele. Although the majority of this
article discusses the warrior gene and how it happens to appear in the most violent
offenders and individuals, they place a disclaimer and say that most violent people
do not have the warrior gene. Some people are motivated by this genetic
phenomenon while others are already violent by a different means. This article
was written by a practicing psychiatrist in addition, her article includes
information on a study of violent offenders and an in depth scientific breakdown
of the genetic structure and its effects. The author considers the study on the
violent offenders when first introducing the idea of the warrior gene and again
when she draws her conclusions. Although this article discusses the link between
the warrior gene and violent behavior it establishes the fact that not all individuals
are violent because of it. Compared to the other sources in my bibliography, this

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one took a scientific approach to understanding violent behavior instead of using
specific examples related to child abuse it created a building block for my own
understanding of violence and how in turn could develop into child abuse. I would
say this source is credible because of the strong scientific points and the authors
credentials. Yes, I would like to include this source in my article because it can
help with my understanding of why some, not all abuse victims grow up and
abuse others. This article was useful and also surprising because I never
considered the idea that people are violent because of their genetics, but at the
same time there are those who are motivated by extraneous circumstances.

Goleman, Daniel. Sad Legacy of Abuse: The Search For Remedies. The New York
Times. The New York Times, 23 Jan. 1989. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
Golemans article on child abuse is a popular source that examines the legacy of
child abuse over generations as it relates to the child abuse victims. The article
mainly discusses the increased study of child abuse over generations and how
treatment and impact can influence abuse later on in life. At the same time the
article mentions that not all abuse victims become abusers themselves. If someone
asked me about this article I would say that overall the likelihood of a child abuse
survivor to abuse their own child or another is not always 100 percent, the action
occurs based on the severity of their trauma and the support they received after.
As stated earlier this is a popular source; however there was a large amount of
input from various professors and doctors from medical schools and universities.
Each one was either involved in a study or mentioned a study on child abuse as it

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related to the idea that survivors of abuse become perpetrators. I feel as though
the information was reliable because they are all qualified individuals and they
each provided figures and analysis from their research study. The intended
audience would be psychologists, therapists, and families of abuse victims.
Compared to my other sources this one was older, but the information was still
useful, also this one compared to the other acknowledged that some abuse victims
grow up to abuse to others; however this is not always the case.
Yes this source was helpful; honestly after reading this source along with my
others it has changed my perspective to a certain extent. Of course I knew that not
all abuse victims become abusers, but I never realized that the study of it and
abuse in general was so hard to come by. Some of the ideas that were discussed I
figured, but this also brought to light the notion that women struggle more with
the lingering effects of child abuse into motherhood. Yes this source will appear in
my project, I feel as though it provided a deeper insight into child abuse and the
effects that it has on its victims and it has made me even considering narrowing
my discussion on abuse to women who have been abused.

Green M.D., Arthur H. "Factors contributing to the generational transmission of


child maltreatment." Journal of the American Academy of Child &
Adolescent Psychiatry 37.12 (1998): 1334-1336.
This article by Arthur Green is a scholarly source from The Journal of the
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. I know this is a scholarly
source because first the author is a professional as stated by his title and work in

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the psychology field particularly research and analysis of abused children. This
source also includes quotes and citations from other professionals that back up
Greens own commentary and analysis. This source has one stance pertaining to
instances and causes for when adult survivors abuse others including their own
children. The main point of this article addresses the fact that adult survivors who
do abuse others often do this because of dissociation which is when an individual
is when the memory link as Green would call it, between their past experiences
as a child and the treatment they inflict upon their own is nonexistent. Thus they
end up in a cycle of maltreatment. They are unable to fully cope with or grasp the
idea of their own abuse and then end up reenacting their traumatic experiences
with others. The author of this article who is now deceased was a doctor in the
field of psychology and as The New York Times Would Say Green was a major
advocate and innovator in the assessment and treatment of abused children. His
work has enriched our understanding and ability to help this form of human
suffering(The New York Times). Green is biased because he mainly focuses on
the survivors who end up victimizing others, in contrast to my other articles most
of which acknowledged and discussed both sides of the spectrum. This article also
goes more in depth for the why of when survivors abuse their own children and
also provides insight from other professionals whose original research is cited at
the bottom of the article. I do plan to use this source in my paper because it gave
me more knowledge as to why these individuals repeat abuse even though they
themselves were abused too. No this has not changed my point of view, but rather

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strengthened my original ideas and even helped me understand how people could
replicate violent behavior.

Krisch, Joshua A. New Research Questions Cycle of Child Abuse. Vocativ. Vocativ, 26
Mar. 2015. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
This article is from a reliable website under the science section of Vocativ. This
article like my others, does acknowledge the cycle of abuse that happens
amongst adult survivors of child abuse; however unlike the others this one
says that adult survivors are not more likely to abuse their children. This
article provides a statistics chart unlike the others ones where it compares
the percentage of abuse and types that occur from adult survivors and just
regular people. Based on the information that they gathered, [some]
victims of abuse are likely to abuse their won children, due to trauma and
the inability to effectively cope with the past; however, they are not more
likely than the general population to abuse their children. Unlike my other
sources this one has a contrasting view, it acknowledges the cycle of abuse
but pins the larger rates of abuse on the non-abused adults who inflict
violence on their own children. This article is reliable because it includes
data and studies from Child Protective Services. I found that this source
was helpful because I never considered the fact that more non-survivors
abuse their children, I was originally only focused on why survivors abuse
but now this draws an interesting question about abuse and who is more
likely to perpetrate it? This will be a valuable resource for my paper as I

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can weigh both sides of the argument and further understand the causes of
abuse while also clarifying the misconception that all abuse victims abuse
their children as well as their automatic violent behavior.

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