A new study on monkeys raised by abusive mothers suggests that
growing up in an abusive household can alter brain chemistry in
a way that makes some youngsters prone to mistreating their own
children when they grow up. In other words, abuse is not just
something that's learned from living with abusive parents,
although that may have an influence, according to authors of the
report, published in Thursday's issue of the journal Behavioral
Neuroscience. Suffering through abuse also appears to
permanently lower the brain's production of an important
regulator of emotions called serotonin, said Dario Maestripieri,
the study's lead author and an associate professor at the
University of Chicago in comparative human development. Low
serotonin can make people more prone to acts of rejection,
impulsive aggression and violence. Of course, most children who
were abused do not become abusers themselves. But some do, and
the findings of the study may help explain this troubling cycle
where victims of abuse later mistreat t