Early-life trauma and the psychogenesis and prevention of violence.

This article considers the development of violence with particular reference to family factors in violence such as the quality of the parent-child relationship. In taking a developmental approach to violence, a link is established between the maltreatment of children in an attachment context and the risk of violence via the child's capacity to envision mental states in the other. Evidence from epidemiology and neuroscience is brought to bear on this link. Finally, some studies of prevention of violence that are likely to enhance attachment and mentalizing are considered.