Adolescent-to-Parent Violence: Psychological and Family Adjustment.

Dolores Seijo,Yurena Gancedo,María J. Vázquez,Raquel Gallego,Mercedes Novo

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.573728

Dolores Seijo, Yurena Gancedo + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.573728

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Abstract

Adolescent-to-Parent Violence (APV) or Child-to-Parent Violence (CPV) is a specific form of violence that has remained inconspicuous until recently, but is becoming a mounting social issue and is increasingly the focus of scientific research. Of the variables related to APV, the study assessed the characteristics of the family system and its relationship to the psychosocial adjustment of adolescents, an aspect scarcely examined in the literature. Thus, a field study was performed on a community sample of 210 adolescents aged 12–17 years (51.4% girls) who were assessed on measurements of APV, parenting (parental socialization), victimization, and psychological adjustment (personal, family, and school). The results revealed higher rates of psychological APV, and no gender effects in violence exercised against either parent. The adolescents involved in APV exhibited a greater psychological maladjustment in the different areas under analysis. Moreover, adolescents engaging in psychological APV reported a parental socialization style characterized by severe strictness and supervision in comparison to non-aggressors not implicated in psychological APV. Finally, adolescents exercising APV who were victimized by their parents showed more psychological, personal, and school maladjustment. These results have implications for needs analysis and the planning of community prevention strategies.

Highlights

Antisocial behavior is a key issue in the field of Legal and Forensic Psychology (Arce et al, 2011)
One of its expressions is adolescent-to-parent violence (APV, known as child-to parent violence), a specific form of violence that has remained inconspicuous for decades (Ibabe, 2019), but was brought into the limelight in recent years owing to the rise in the number of cases and the severe impact on the entire family system (Holt, 2016; Del Hoyo-Bilbao et al, 2020)
In clinical and judicial samples, physical violence was mainly exercised by boys (Armstrong et al, 2018; Cortina and Martín, 2020), owing to the seriousness of the Adolescent-to-Parent Violence (APV) offense, this entailed a higher probability of custodial sentences, whereas girls were mainly involved in psychological violence

Summary

Introduction

Antisocial behavior is a key issue in the field of Legal and Forensic Psychology (Arce et al, 2011). In Spain, most field studies have estimated prevalence rates of 21% for physical violence (Ibabe et al, 2013; Calvete et al, 2014; Ibabe and Bentler, 2016), and rates of 33–93% for psychological and emotional violence (Calvete et al, 2013; Ibabe, 2015; Ibabe and Bentler, 2016; Cortina and Martín, 2020). Other studies have found that girls in custody can resort to severe forms of APV involving physical violence (Condry and Miles, 2014; Simmons et al, 2018)

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