The Development

of Violent
Behaviors
Jane F. Gilgun, Ph.D., LICSW
Professor, School of Social Work
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA
SW 3701 Child Abuse & Neglect Prevention
February 8, 2010
 Processes Involved
in Understanding Violence
• Identify risks
• Identify protective factors
• How people overcome risks
• How people do not overcome risks
• What goes on when people commit violent
acts?
• What discourses (wide-spread beliefs and
practices) do violent people draw upon
• Why do some people act out the
discourses we are all exposed to?
 Two Boys
• Similar Backgrounds: Rob & Marty
– Physically abused
– Sexually abused
– Witnessed physical & emotional abuse of
their mothers
– High parental conflict
• Rob: turns out okay
• Marty: in prison for criminal sexual
conduct
 Rob
• Trust in Others: Cascade of Positive Events
– Best friend Pete
– Learned to fix motors
– Started own business in high school
– Confided in his diary
– Self-soothing through music and art
– Did not want to be a “little shit’
 Rob
• Had major issues
– Two suicide attempts in high school
– Spanked his infant son
– Broke infant son’s toys
– Verbally abusive to his wife
– Physically intimidating to his wife
 Rob’s Wife Ann
• Stood up to Rob
– “You don’t spank babies.”
– “We need to get marriage counseling.”
• Ann had a safe haven
– She left when Rob got angry
 Marty
• Broken trust: Cascade of negative events
– Told teacher mother beat him
– Teacher told mother
– Mother beat him when he got home
– Never confided in anyone again
• Afraid to tell anyone about the boys in the neighborhood
who sexually abused him
– Became obsessed with macho games & activities
– By ten
• Stealing
• Flunking school
• Sexually harassing girls
 Marty
– By 12: in juvenile detention
– By 18: in adult prison for criminal sexual
assault
– His brothers
• A successful businessman
• A college professor
 Note Well: The Exceptions
• Many violent people grew up in good enough families
but learned to be violent. They believed the following
– Violence gets you what you want.
– Violence gives you good feelings.
– “big me, little you.”
– “Any bitch who doesn’t do what I say gets a beating.”
– “I am not a punk.”
– “You don’t know who you are dealing with.”

• Their pro-violence ideologies are so strong that

concern for consequences for others and long-term
consequences for themselves do not exist
 Applications
to Child Abuse & Neglect
• Rob believed
– “You’re supposed to spank babies. How are they
going to know what they did is wrong?
• Physical/verbal/psychological abuse.” Other
people who abuse think like this:
– “You little shit. How dare you defy me?”
– “I feel bad. I’m going to make you feel bad.”
• Sexual abuse. This is how perpetrators feel:
– “This makes me feel good.”
 Applications
to Child Abuse & Neglect
• Physical Neglect—Possible Causes
– Poverty?
– Depression/mental illness? Insecure attachments?
– Self-centered pre-occupation: “Big me, little you. You
don’t count.”
• A form of vengeance?
• Emotional/psychological neglect—Possible Causes
– Ignorance: parents not emotionally intelligent?
– Ideologies about gender: boys don’t cry; girls don’t
count
– Depression/mental illness: insecure attachments
 For Students:
Prevention Strategies

• What prevention strategies can

you draw from this
presentation?