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Caregivers' Behavior Contributes to Offspring Behavior

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Caregivers' Behavior Contributes to Offspring Behavior

The field of violence prediction research has advanced to the point where predictions about serious criminal violence by men who have already committed one violent offense can be made with a considerable degree of accuracy (Rice, 414). This group, although a small proportion of the population, is a group whose violence is the focus of much societal concern. Research on the nature of psychotherapy is yielding new insights into a group of offenders who are highly prone to violence. There is every reason to believe that applying the results of violence research to make policy changes in the criminal justice system would make society safer.

Research conducted on treatment of …show more content…

Children whose caregivers are consistently inaccessible or rejecting tend to develop a strategy of minimizing the output of attachment behavior (Main, l990). These avoidant children appear to have little need for the attachment figure and show little overt distress, although they are angered and made anxious by rejection. Children of inconsistently available caretakers develop a strategy of maximizing attachment behaviors, because they are fearful of the caregiver's potential inaccessibility (Main, 1990).

In support of this view, insecure attachment has been suggested as a risk factor in the development of childhood psychopathology (Lewis, Feiring, McGuffog, and Jaskin, 1984). The connection between avoidant attachment and antisocial or disruptive behavior has most frequently been reported. In relation to Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange the main character and (reliable) narrator, Alex, is the leader in a circle of massive violence and destruction and rape crimes. From the novel we can summarize that Alex's parents were unreliable and inconsistent caregivers. Their lack of influence and responsibility when Alex was young quite possibly created his violence. Yet, these studies suggest that aggression could be innate. However, a person born with violent tendencies who has a healthy, nurturing, and supportive environment can grow up and benefit therefore

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