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

Abstract

This study aimed to address how multiple risk factors that were previously related and derived from ecological levels, when taken together, could explain child-to-mother and child-to-father violence. A total of 298 Spanish adolescents (140 girls) who had committed CPV, with a mean age of 15.91 (SDage = 1.89), offender residents of specialized closed institutions for adolescents who had aggressed their parents (49.5%) and educational centres (50.6%) completed all measures. Both models obtained adequate fit indexes and explained about 50% of the variance in the two types of violence. At contextual (exosystem) level, peer deviance was indirectly related to both types of CPV. At family level (microsystem), the strongest direct predictor in both models was parental ineffectiveness in applying discipline. An additional direct path to child-to-mother violence was the use of corporal punishment. At individual level (ontogenic), the two strongest direct predictors in both models were adolescents’ impulsivity and substance abuse. The models highlight the complexity of the variables involved in the development of CPV. Regarding intervention implications, the models show the importance of paying attention to family variables, such as parents’ mode of implementation of disciplinary measures, and individual factors, such as adolescents’ impulsivity and substance abuse.