Risk and Protective Factors of Child-to-Parent Violence: A Comparison Between Physical and Verbal Aggression

Abstract

Child-to-parent violence (CPV) is a social problem that remains vastly understudied compared with other forms of family violence. The aim of this study is to identify family and child risk and protective factors of CPV, and to investigate whether they differentially predict physical and verbal parent-directed violence among boys and girls. Predictors include parenting behavior during childhood (physical and verbal violence, warmth, monitoring) and respondents' individual characteristics (suicidal ideation, self-control, problematic substance use). Data were examined from a large representative sample of ninth graders ( N = 6,444) in Lower Saxony, Germany. Bivariate analyses showed that female adolescents were more likely to aggress verbally, while no gender differences were found for physical CPV. Multilevel logistic regression models revealed that direct experiences of parental physical and verbal violence during childhood were among the strongest predictors of physical and verbal CPV, both among males and females. While parental monitoring was not significantly associated with CPV, parental warmth protected girls from physical parent-directed aggression. Furthermore, high self-control was protective against verbal CPV as well as boys' physical CPV, while problematic substance use predicted physical violence toward parents in both sexes but only boys' verbal CPV. Suicidal ideation was a risk factor of aggression in males only. Except for parental warmth, the importance of risk and protective factors did not substantially vary across child gender. These findings broaden our understanding of different family and child-related factors that either promote or prevent CPV. Specifically, they point to the importance of the parenting context and especially harsh discipline practices for the occurrence of both physical and verbal CPV.

Parenting Styles and Aggressive Adolescents: Relationships with Self-esteem and Personal Maladjustment

“…Nevertheless, other studies found parental acceptance and warmth to be a risk factor in aggressive children, who were not able to anticipate and understand the consequences of social behaviors and select the appropriate means to achieve their goals (Ruiz-Ortiz, Braza, Carreras, & Muñoz, 2017). On the other hand, some studies suggest that parental monitoring (e.g., setting rules and restrictions for children) is not a significant protective factor against adolescent aggression (Law, Shapka, & Olson, 2010) or significantly associated with child-to-parent violence (Beckmann, Bergmann, Fischer, & Mößle, 2017), or even that harsh parenting could exacerbate aggressiveness in adolescents (Tung & Lee, 2018). However, other studies suggest that lack of strictness and imposition may be a main risk factor related to the aggressive tendency (Furstenberg et al, 1999).…”

“…Additionally, some gender scholars have pointed out the gap between parenting practices of warmth and strictness and their different impact on males and females, raising doubts about whether parents should act differently with their sons than with their daughters in order to prevent deviance (Bully, Jaureguizar, Bernaras, & Redondo, 2019;Carlo, Raffalli, Laible, & Meyer, 1999;Griffin, Botvin, Scheier, Diaz, & Miller, 2000;Hosokawa & Katsura, 2018). For example, parental warmth was found to be a protective factor against child-toparent violence in females but not in males (Beckmann et al, 2017), unsupervised time at home alone (low strictness) was associated with more smoking only for females (Griffin et al, 2000), and lack of parental discipline (low strictness) was related to aggression and other externalizing behavioral problems in males, but not in females (Hosokawa & Katsura, 2018).…”

Multivariate Models of Child-to-Mother Violence and Child-to-Father Violence among Adolescents

“…As Bobic (2004) points out, researchers rarely combine various levels of CPV risk factors in an integrated framework, which can potentially blur CPV understanding. There are currently exceptions, with some CPV studies combining individual and family factors (Beckmann, Bergmann, Fischer, & Mößle, 2017;Calvete, Orue, Gámez-Guadix, & Bushman, 2015) and others combing individual and social factors (Contreras & Cano, 2016;Kennedy et al, 2010;Lyons et al, 2015). However, current reviews of CPV indicate that additional research is required, given the complexity of the variables involved in the development of this type of family violence (O'Hara et al, 2017;Simmons, McEwan, Purcell, & Ogloff, 2018).…”

The Relationship between Family Violence and Self-Control in Adolescence: A Multi-Level Meta-Analysis

“…The following are available online at , Table S1: Reviewed Studies, Sample Characteristics, Methods of Assessment, and Effect Sizes. References [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 16 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 , 105 , 106 ] are included in the supplementary meta-analysis.…”