I wasn't talking about it from a "they are passing down bad genes" kind of way. It was more of a "I have lived around these families and it is a taught/learned behavior."

Some of these kids who's parents also have a lackluster understanding of physics and/or the consequences of their own actions learn this sort of behavior from their parents.

If the parent had died prior to making and teaching their future children then that removes a person who is continuing the pattern.