People don't try to become bad parents. Very few people actually set out to abuse or neglect their children, yet it happens all too often. Abusive parents are not necessarily criminals or terrible people. In most cases, they are people who crossed the line, due to excessive stress and/or lack of coping skills. Most abusers love their children but tend to have less patience and less mature personalities than other parents. For example, single parents who are unable to shoulder all the responsibility that is entailed with raising children might lash out at what they perceive to be their source of unhappiness. Young parents who have never experienced responsibility of this scope are more likely not ready for parenthood, either financially or emotionally. They might feel frustrated about having someone dependant on them when they themselves are perhaps not fully independent or they simply do not fully realize the needs of their children. These traits make it difficult to cope with demands of their children and increase likelihood of emotional or physical abuse.
Abuse and neglect occurs in all socioeconomic, religious and ethnic groups. The consequences of abusive, neglectful behavior sometimes ends up in the headlines and on the news. More often, it results in emotionally damaged human beings who continue to abuse themselves and others in a variety of ways. People often assume that abusers suffer from mental disorders but fewer than 10 percent of abusers actually have mental illnesses. The only thing the experts can agree on, is that it is caused by a complex interaction of numerous factors. Those factors can be grouped into four categories relating to the parent, child and family environment. They are: intergenerational transmission of violence, social stress, social isolation and low community involvement, and family structure. .
Intergenerational transmission of violence refers to the abusive behaviour transmitted across generations.
