With significant and entirely appropriate focus on violence against children there are others in families who are also the focus of abuse, parents. A 2022 Australian study led by Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon of Monash University surveyed over 5,000 young people, 16 to 20 years, 20% of whom admitted to acts of violence against family members with mothers and siblings the most likely targets. 42% reported the violence began before 10 years of age. While the statistics are troubling and should be at the forefront of mind when working with young people and their families the more compelling question is what leads to this behaviour, and can we intervene earlier to prevent it?
What We Know
While child to parent abuse, as a form of domestic and family violence has been recognised for 40 years it is only in the last 15 that there has been significant publication in this area. While intimate partner violence is often explained as a function of gender inequality other explanations have been proposed for adolescents. These include social learning theory and exposure and adaptation to violence, attachment, childhood adversity, stress and parenting styles. Studies identified risk factors including being the witness to or victim of violence, mental illness or emotional or behavioural disorders, drug and alcohol use, violent peers and school bullying. Attempts have also been made to understand the developmental trajectory and interaction between risk and protective factors at specific developmental stages and transitions to better explain this behaviour. However, results are limited, and we need to know more, especially in Australia.
Addressing this Question
A study by Peck et. al. in the Australian Journal of Psychology undertook to review and synthesise current knowledge of the correlates and predictors of child to parent violence in Australia and New Zealand. They identified 21 studies of variable quality due to ‘small sample sizes and a lack of representative sampling, missing outcome data, definitional variations, and inconsistencies in categorising variables across studies.
What do Australian Studies Show?
The results reflect findings from other countries which showed that some young people who are abusive to parents have experienced prolonged or early exposure to adult interpersonal violence, childhood trauma and maltreatment. These findings point to the need to explore the level and type of adverse childhood experiences in relation to the frequency and severity of violence perpetrated.
Verbal abuse and property damage before 13 years at school and home preceded abuse of parents for some, while mental illness, behavioural or conduct disorders were also precursors. These young people were often engaged in other forms of delinquency suggesting parental abuse is a part of a much bigger pattern of anti-social conduct.
What Can We Take from This?
It is very clear that research results are fragmented and disconnected, and a coherent systemic understanding is needed. How do all these factors interact and reinforce each other, what is the pathway to violence and the key contextual factors? With better understanding practitioners who work directly with families can recognise risk profiles, pattern of pathways and contextual factors and effectively intervene before someone gets hurt.
Peck, A., Hutchinson, M., and Provost, S. Young people who engage in child to parent violence: an integrative review of correlates and developmental pathways. AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2021, VOL. 73, NO. 4, 405–415
Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety. (2022). Adolescent family violence in Australia [Fact sheet]. ANROWS.
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