Despite much controversy and debate over the years, nature and nurture both play a very important and significant role in human development. A child being raised, exposed to family violence is believed to impact their development. In this essay the question, is there a strong correlation between family violence perpetrator behaviour and childhood experiences of abuse, as well as how nature and nurture may play roles in the lifespan development of a perpetrator, will both be discussed. Human development and the developmental changes that occur throughout life, are the products of a complex interplay between nature and nurture, and both influence and impact on each other (Sigelman, Rider, & De George-Walker, 2016). Nature and nurture are …show more content…
Lawson (2015) breaks down and defines family violence as “physical and sexual assault; threats and intimidation (psychological abuse); withholding necessary support and sustenance for children and elderly (neglect); and endangerment by acts of omission or commission in intimate relationships, including parent-child, adult and/or aging parent, marital and cohabitating, and GLBT relationships” (p.4). Put more simply, the Department of Human Services (2016) website explains that domestic and/or family violence is abuse which can include verbal, emotional, physical, or …show more content…
Stauffer, and Capuzzi (2016) explain that high levels of stress, caused by exposure to family violence, can cause irreparable health consequences in young children as they are vulnerable to permanent changes in their brain structure and functioning due to the high level of plasticity in their brains. As previously discussed, Sigelman, Rider, and De George-Walker (2016) explain that heredity and genes provide all humans with a brain that allows people to learn and grow from the experiences in their environment, whether positive or negative, and those experiences can alter and change the way their brain develops. If the experiences are negative, such as being exposed to family violence, that can alter the brain in a negative way and produce risk factors associated with perpetrator