Adolescent-to-Parent Violence: Psychological and Family Adjustment

Dolores Seijo; María J Vázquez; Raquel Gallego; Yurena Gancedo; Mercedes Novo

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.573728

Adolescent-to-Parent Violence: Psychological and Family Adjustment

Front Psychol. 2020 Nov 25:11:573728. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.573728. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Dolores Seijo¹, María J Vázquez², Raquel Gallego³, Yurena Gancedo¹, Mercedes Novo¹

Affiliations

¹ Psicología Organizacional, Jurídica Forense y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Facultad de Psicología, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
² Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación y del Trabajo Social, University of Vigo, Ourense, Spain.
³ Unidad de Psicología Forense, Facultad de Psicología, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

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.

Keywords: adolescent-to-parent violence; childcare; family system; maladjustment; parenting style; victimization.