The Development of Abusive Personality: A Trauma Response

This article contains a review and counseling implications for an article titled “Witnessing Parental Violence as a Traumatic Experience Shaping the Abusive Personality” by Donald Dutton (2000). Dutton contends that the early combination of witnessing or directly experiencing violence, shaming, and insecure attachment contributes to the development of abusive personality in males. These individuals experience great difficulty in modulating aggression toward others. In particular, children who witness interpersonal violence have a greater likelihood of becoming partner abusers than do children who are victims of violence.