If a primary caretaker has a negative attitude toward her child, it increases the risk that her child will grow up hostile toward others. It is not just aggression toward others that results from child abuse; a large number of children raised by abusive parents also harm themselves. The negative behavior occurs because the children do not learn appropriate techniques for handling life’s disappointments. When raised without proper coping skills, individuals are more likely to act “inappropriately” than if they have developed more reasonable approaches. The effect of poor parenting, as reported by Dr. Geoffrey Dahmer in “The Bully Papers,” is that everyone gets the child she deserves.