Among the reflections of the authors on the origin of the violence, those ones about the intergenerational transmission are particularly interesting. Specifically, men and women involved in IPV seem to have experienced abuse and neglect directly or indirectly in their families of origin; witnessing IPV is called assisted violence and concerns assisting any forms of abuse (physical, verbal, psychological, sexual or economic) on someone emotionally significant to the child. This condition seems to be a precursor to behavioural and relational difficulties that would be caused by learning behaviours showing aggression, devaluation of the partner, exercise of power and so on. In both direct and indirect experiences, the probability to live in adult relationships the same forms of abuse experienced in childhood, is particularly high. In this paper, we want to introduce some of the most significant theoretical and empirical international contributions about the effects of domestic violence on children and adolescents, with particular attention on prevention and treatment.
Keywords: Domestic violence, couple, family relationships intergenerational transmission, childhood, adolescence