Differences associated with child to parent violence depending on the type of family (“normalized” vs. “at risk”) and kinship of the victim.

Abstract

Child to Parent Violence (CPV) is considered an emerging crime, and the current research is trying to clarify differential characteristics. Some authors have distinguished two types: the “traditional” CPV and the “new” CPV; however, this differentiation requires more empirical support. The objective of this study was to analyze the existence of differences in risk factors in a sample of adolescents and young people who committed CPV, depending on the type of family to which they belong: current users of social services (“traditional” CPV) versus non-user families (“new” CPV). Risk factors analyzed were family separation, exposure to violence, school failure, drug use and mental pathology. A second objective was to identify the main victim of the violent behavior (father, mother or both) in single-parent, nuclear and reconstituted families. A total of 72 Spanish young people from 14-21 years old (M = 16.7; SD = 2.5; 65.3% boys) were recruited from the Municipal Social Emergency Service of Bilbao, Spain. Results indicated the existence of differences among adolescents belonging to both types of families only in two of the five risks factors: family separation (r =.57) and exposure to violence (r =.54). These results suggest that there could be more similarities than differences between both types of CPV. The mother was who mainly received the violent behaviors. When only nuclear or reconstituted families are analyzed, violence was committed against both parents indistinctly. The relevance of considering these factors in the adolescents who commit CPV in order to design of effective intervention programs is discussed.