The myth of the cycle of abuse, debunked by a psychology researcher.
The HBO documentary Leaving Neverland details the stories of two men who say they suffered childhood sexual abuse at the hands of Michael Jackson. The premiere of the film has rocked our cultural memory of one of the world’s most significant pop stars.
It has also renewed questions about the impact on his behavior of Jackson’s own experience of abuse from his father. The idea of the so-called cycle of abuse — that victims of child abuse are more likely to go on and abuse as adults — is a popular narrative attached to stars like Jackson and R. Kelly, the R&B star who has been accused of multiple sex crimes, who says he was the victim of abuse himself as a child.
But does abuse really beget abuse? Can the cycle be broken? What does the science say?
I am a clinical psychologist and researcher at the University of Calgary who studies the long-term consequences of child abuse and neglect. Research on this topic has revealed that, contrary to what is commonly believed by the public, a direct link has not be found between having a childhood sexual abuse history and perpetrating sexual offenses, at least not in the most rigorous study conducted to date on the topic. This is a not a flashy news story, so it often gets overlooked.
Researchers have approached the question of the cycle of abuse in two ways. One is to examine whether victims of sexual abuse go on to be perpetrators of sexual offenses, such as rape, child molestation, or making and distributing child pornography. This is known as the victim to victimizer hypothesis. This theory rests on the idea that a victim of childhood sexual abuse is more likely to go on and commit sex crimes.
The second way of examining this question is to examine the victim to victim hypothesis. This theory states that the children of parents who suffered abuse when they were young are more likely to be exposed to or endure abuse themselves, perpetuating a cycle of abuse across generations. In this scenario, the parent is not the perpetrator of the abuse, but rather, the parent is less likely to interfere or even know that their child is sexually abused by another parent, grandparent, relative, or someone unrelated to the family.
The common narrative around the cycle of abuse tends to fall into the first category. We might attribute Michael Jackson’s alleged sexual abuse of children to the fact that he was abused himself as a child, which normalized the behavior for him. But in reality, any so-called cycle of abuse is more likely victim to victim.
One of the best studies on this subject was conducted by Cathy Widom and her colleagues from the City University of New York. In this study, which began in 1967, they identified approximately 900 children with substantiated abuse histories prior to the age of 12, and followed them to the age of 50 to examine their proclivity for sexually abusing others. They also followed a group of individuals who were “matched” in terms of demographic factors, such as family income, as well as child gender, age, and ethnicity, but who did not experience abuse. They compared these groups to see whether those who were abused were more or less likely to abuse others as adults.
The study found that 4.6 percent of the group with childhood histories of sexual abuse were charged with sex crimes as adults, while 4.5 percent of the group without histories of abuse were charged. Ultimately, childhood sexual abuse had no bearing on one’s likelihood to commit these crimes. This was the case for men as well as women.
But in that same study, Widom and her colleagues found that the odds of enduring a sexual assault were three to four times greater among children whose parents have a history of sexual assault versus those who do not (10.6 percent versus 3.4 percent, respectively). This pattern of finding was recently confirmed in a review of all studies that have examined this link directly.
Why is the cycle of sexual abuse more likely to happen in the victim to victim scenario, where the child is sexually assaulted, but not at the hands of the parent? It is possible that a parent with a sexual abuse history, reeling from — or preoccupied with — their own abuse, cannot consistently and adequately attend to their child’s needs. They may also fail to recognize or assess signs of danger or threat to the child. It is also possible that, to cope with their abuse experience, they develop unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as excessive drinking or drug use, and when intoxicated cannot provide adequate care, support, and/or supervision to their child. As a result, their children may seek out attention and care from other individuals, which can make them vulnerable to victimization.
Importantly, research has shown that the vast majority of people who are victims of abuse — as many as 95 percent — never perpetuate any kind of cycle of abuse in either scenario. Thus, the idea that all of those who endured mistreatment as children are fated to damage the lives of others in the future is largely a myth.
Having an abuse history does not need to define who an individual is or what they become. Many individuals go on to break the cycle of abuse because they had a safe, stable, or nurturing relationship — maybe through a therapist, spouse, or family member — that helped them overcome the toxic stress of childhood abuse. The safety, support, and compassion that can come from these sources can be protective and can help break the cycle of abuse that can spread across generations.
After decades of research on the cycle of abuse, we now know how often it occurs and that it has serious consequences for children’s health and well-being, but we know very little about why it occurs and how to intervene to stop it from occurring. Researchers are pushing for answers to these questions, and only time will tell if they will heed the call.
Dr. Sheri Madigan holds a Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary and a member of the Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute.
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