ation were beaten with whips, straps, and belts; 43% were beaten with something hard such as sticks or bats; 17% were beaten badly enough to require medical treatment; 10% claimed a weapon (i.e., gun or knife) was used against them, and 6% had spent time in a hospital as a result of abuse (Dembo, et al, 1993).
In another study, John McGaha (1993) studied this phenomenon in the context of the chemically dependent family. He studied a random sample of 96 adults on probation for felony offenses. Questionnaires were distributed to the population, focusing on their childhood environment and how they coped with chemically dependent family members. The findings demonstrated that probationers from substance abusing families experienced a significantly higher degree of family dysfunction than did those offenders from non-substance abusing families. Further, those offenders who were exposed to higher degrees of family violence and abuse reported higher incidences of running away and other forms of
...