‘The terrorist in my home’: teenagers' violence towards parents - constructions of parent experiences in public online message boards

Abstract

A B S T R AC TTeenagers' violence towards parents is a hidden and underexplored problem, particularly within the UK, and the stigma attached to such experiences makes research access difficult. In this study, two online message boards which featured parents' posted accounts of their teenagers' violence towards them were analysed. Using discourse analysis, three consistent discursive themes were identified: the emotional terrain of such experiences, the psychologisation of the childas-'perpetrator' and parental responses to these complex experiences. Overall, these three themes were weaved together to produce overarching narratives of powerlessness and loss of hope. The theoretical and practical implications of this analysis are discussed, including a consideration of how such online message boards enable and delimit parental agency.

Headlice eradication as everyday engagement with science: An analysis of online parenting discussions

“…This is a more cautious stance than taken by Pedersen and Smithson (2010) and Skea et al (2008) in their use of Mumsnet data, and more in line with the approach taken by Holt (2011) in her analysis of parents' online discussions of experiences of violence from their children.…”

Adolescent-to-Parent Violence: Translating Research into Effective Practice

“…Also, parents do not consistently seek the same response. For example, some parents may want the child removed (Holt 2011), whereas others want the police to simply talk to their child (Holt and Retford 2012). Many parents report feeling that police minimize the situation, and thus leave them with a sense of hopelessness about the possibility of lasting change (Cottrell and Monk 2004;Miles and Condry 2016).…”

“…Even when police take an action such as making an arrest, many parents end up dropping the charges or recanting their statements to prevent further legal consequences for their child (Miles and Condry 2016). Overall, there are limited policy and practice guidelines for officers responding to calls of adolescent-to-parent violence (Cottrell and Monk 2004;Holt 2011;Holt and Retford 2012;Miles and Condry 2016).…”

Researching Parent Abuse: A Critical Review of the Methods

“…Given the hidden nature of parent abuse, and the 'double-stigma' which it is likely to entail (see Holt, 2011), a clear challenge for research is the problem of access: how can we find out about something that we have trouble even naming?…”

“…An alternative approach has been taken by Holt (2011), whose analysis of anonymous postings on online parenting support message boards is particularly illuminating in its consideration of how the emotional fallout of parent abuse is played out within an online arena. While small in number and scale, these studies are important as they access that majority of parents who do not seek help and whose experiences are invisible to institutional number-crunching: that is, the 'thick end' of the wedge.…”