Psychological Symptoms in Parents Who Experience Child-to-Parent Violence: The Role of Self-Efficacy Beliefs.

Previous research suggests that parents involved in child-to-parent violence (CPV) experience shame, judgment, and a lack of social support, often accompanied by feelings of self-blame and helplessness as well as a deterioration in their perception of self-efficacy and their parenting skills. All of these factors may impact parents' mental health. However, there is a research gap concerning the consequences of CPV among parents. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the relationship between CPV and psychological symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, hostility, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, and somatization) in parents based on their perceptions of self-efficacy. The sample was composed of 354 participants: 177 parents (83.1% mothers) and their 177 children (53.4% boys; Mage = 13.27). CPV was reported by both parents and their children. In addition, parents reported their self-efficacy beliefs and psychological symptoms. The results showed that CPV was negatively associated with parents' psychological symptomatology, except for somatization. Moreover, self-efficacy beliefs explain part of the indirect association between CPV behaviors and psychological symptoms in parents. Overall, our findings provide evidence for the potential impact of CPV on mental health in parents and suggest the relevance of reinforcing their self-efficacy beliefs.

Interaction of Parental Discipline Strategies and Adolescents’ Personality Traits in the Prediction of Child-to-Parent Violence / Interacción entre estrategias de disciplina parental y rasgos de personalidad de los adolescentes en la predicción de la violencia filioparental

Background: Child-to-parent violence is a family issue that needs a systemic and integral approach for its evaluation. The main objective of this longitudinal study was to assess the moderating effects of adolescents’ borderline personality and psychopathic traits (grandiose-manipulative, callous-unemotional, and impulsive-irresponsible dimensions) in the predictive association between inadequate parental strategies (psychological aggression, corporal punishment, and ignoring misbehavior) and child-to-parent violence. Sex differences were analyzed. Method: The community sample comprised 671 adolescents aged from 12 to 17 years old (Mage = 13.39, SD = 1.15; 50.8% girls, 47.7% boys, and 1.5% non-binary), assessed twice, six months apart from each other. Results: Results showed slightly different patterns of violence towards fathers and mothers – ignoring misbehavior predicted aggression toward mothers, while psychological aggression predicted aggression toward fathers. Moderation analyses showed that the predictive association from ignoring misbehavior to both child-to-father violence (CFV) and child-to-mother violence (CMV) was only significant for adolescents who were high in the psychopathic trait of callous-unemotional, and the predictive association from psychological aggression to CFV was only significant in those adolescents who scored low in the borderline personality trait. Some sex specificities emerged. Conclusions: These findings support the relevance of working on parents’ discipline strategies and add the need to work on adolescents’ emotional regulation to prevent or deal with child-to-parent violence. (AU)

Antecedentes: La violencia filioparental (VFP) es una problemática familiar cuya evaluación requiere una perspectiva sistémica e integral. El objetivo principal de este estudio longitudinal fue evaluar los efectos moderadores de los rasgos límite y psicopáticos (dimensiones grandiosa-manipulativa, fría-insensible e impulsiva-irresponsable) en adolescentes en la relación predictiva entre estrategias inadecuadas parentales (agresión psicológica, castigo físico e ignorar el mal comportamiento) y la VFP. Se analizaron diferencias por sexo de los adolescentes. Método: La muestra comunitaria estuvo compuesta por 671 adolescentes, de edades comprendidas entre 12 y 17 años (Medad = 13.39, SD = 1.15; 50.8% chicas, 47.7% chicos y 1.5% no binarios), evaluadas en dos momentos con seis meses de diferencia. Resultados: Los resultados mostraron patrones ligeramente diferentes en la violencia hacia padres y madres: ignorar el mal comportamiento predijo la violencia hacia los madres, mientras que la agresión psicológica predijo la la violencia hacia los padres. Los análisis de moderación mostraron que la asociación predictiva entre ignorar el mal comportamiento y la violencia hacia ambos progenitores era significativa solo en adolescentes con rasgos elevados de frialdad emocional y que la relación predictiva entre agresión psicológica y violencia hacia el padre fue significativa solamente en adolescentes con bajos niveles de rasgos límite. Se observaron algunas especificidades según el sexo de los adolescentes. Conclusiones: Estos resultados abundan en la importancia de trabajar en las estrategias de disciplina parentales y en la regulación emocional de los adolescentes en la prevención de la VFP o en su intervención. (AU)

The Revised Child-to-Parent Aggressions Questionnaire: an Examination During the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Purpose: Child-to-parent violence (CPV) is an important type of family violence that has been relatively understudied. This study examined the main psychometric properties of the revised Child-to-Parent Aggression Questionnaire (CPAQ-R), which examines both violent behaviors against parents and reasons for these behaviors. The aims included identifying the dimensions of CPV and examining the magnitude of CPV during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A sample of 1,244 adolescents (aged from 12 to 17) from several schools in the Basque Country completed the CPAQ-R. Several confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, including exploratory, confirmatory, exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), and bifactor analyses. Results: The data supported a bifactor ESEM model in which a general factor of violence against parents explained aggressions against both mothers and fathers. In addition, three reasons for the violence emerged: instrumental, reactive, and defensive reasons. Rates of CPV during the COVID-19 pandemic were high, with 16.5% of adolescents reporting reiterative aggressions against their parents. There were no differences between aggressions against mothers and fathers. Conclusions: The CPAQ-R is an adequate questionnaire for assessing CPV in adolescents. The confinement and restrictions placed on families during the COVID-19 pandemic may explain the high prevalence of CPV and shed light on possible differences related to the sex of the parents.