If a primary caretaker has a negative attitude toward her child it increases the risk that her child will grow up hostile towards others. And it’s not just aggression toward others that results from child abuse; a large number of children raised by abusive parents also harm themselves. This negative behavior occurs because the children don’t learn appropriate techniques for handling life’s disappointments. When raised without proper coping skills, individuals are much 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 he deserves.