She may reject the help of others and respond in negative ways. The reaction of others will then be a source of hurt for the individual. Furthermore, the woman may not follow through with actions that are crucial to her ability to obtain her goals. Therefore, with respect to this theory, it would then seem that the woman possesses an inborn personality trait that may predispose her to tolerate an abusive relationship (Harway, 1998). Sociobiological theories focus on the work of Darwin and notion that the physical characteristics and behaviors of species develop over time through the process of natural selection (Rowe, 1994). According to Kashani and Allan (1998), since behaviors that help one's offspring to survive are considered functional, parents are expected to invest more resources in one of their own children than in a non-relative child. Sociobiological theorists would explain that the function of marital violence can be found in the potential purpose of coercive control in marriages which can be viewed as being motivated by the male need to guarantee his paternity by ensuring compliance through power and control (Kashani & Allan, 1998). This could imply that the husband has justification in the scheme of evolution to engage in abusive tactics all to insure the continuation of future generations. The theory of Intergenerational Transmission which borrows ideas from Social Learning Theory, involves the relationship between parental violence and subsequent child violence during adulthood. Specifically, it is believed that abused children are more likely to become abusers, victims, or violent offenders (Kashani & Allan, 1998). For example, a study conducted by Rynerson and Fishel (1993) surveyed parents who were abusive and found that 38.8% of men and 32% of women have had memories of their fathers physically abusing their mothers. However, after further review of the research, the authors believe that retrospective data is sometime unreliable due to the fact that the parents may blame others for their abusive behavior (Kashani & Allan, 1998).
