BOSTON – Family violence is not limited to spousal or child abuse: Adolescents and preteens are also capable of violent, destructive behavior against family members, said an Australian investigator at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.
Nearly half of all restraining-order applications from a large children’s court in Australia were related to child-to-parent violence, reported Mr. Gennady Baksheev, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne.
Most of the violence was related to long-standing behavioral problems, with the perpetrators primarily being males and the victims primarily females. In 58% of the cases, the violent episodes occurred in single-parent households.
"Family violence perpetrated by children against their parents or siblings has received little attention, although it is increasingly being recognized as a serious problem for social services, law enforcement, and the courts," Mr. Baksheev said.
The medical literature has consistently shown that the "battered parent syndrome" is most frequently perpetrated by boys against their mothers, and that boys are more likely to engage in physically abusive behaviors, whereas girls are more likely to be emotionally or verbally abusive, he said.
Estimates of the prevalence of child-to-parent violence range from 7% to 56%, with differences in research methods and definitions accounting for the discrepancy. Explanations for this type of behavior include disturbances in family hierarchy, parents with harsh or punitive control strategies, familial conflict (including witnessing and modeling of parental violence), and psychiatric and/or behavioral disturbances among juveniles, Mr. Baksheev noted.
He and his colleagues conducted a retrospective audit of consecutive court records from the Melbourne Children’s Court, looking for applications for restraining orders against juvenile defendants. The records included the characteristics of the victims and perpetrators, the nature of the behavior prompting the applications, and the precipitants of the perpetrators’ behavior.
In all, 438 of the 928 applications filed during the study period met the criteria for juvenile family violence. Half of the applications (50%) were filed by the primary victim; most of the remaining half (49.4%) were filed by an adult on behalf of the victim. Nearly one-third of the applications (30%) were filed outside of normal court hours, suggesting emergencies.
Of the 438 perpetrators, 300 (69%) were boys. The mean age was 15.9 years (range, 12-18 years). Two-thirds of the sample (66%) were living in single-parent households, and 19.5% were living with both parents. (The remaining living arrangements were not specified.) In all, 14% of the perpetrators had a diagnosis of mental illness.
More than three-fourths of the victims (77%) were female, with a mean age of 40.2 years (range, 5-78 years). The victim was a parent in 78% of the cases, a sibling in 11%, and another relative, such as a stepsibling or grandparent, in 9%. (The remaining 2% were not specified.)
About 50% of the cases involved threats to the victim, 55% involved assaults, and 60% involved damage to property.
The motivation for violence was attributed to behavioral problems in 52% of cases, intimidation in 13%, family problems in 10%, retaliation in 9%, drug issues in 8%, mental disorders in 6%, and sexual predation in 2%.
In all, 56% of applications for restraining orders were not granted, but fewer than a third of these were attributable to court refusal. The majority were not granted because the victim refused to proceed. An analysis showed that not proceeding with a restraining order was significantly associated with the applicant being the primary victim (P less than .001).
In a post hoc analysis, the authors found that restraining orders were nearly 1.8 times more likely to be granted against male vs. female defendants. One-third of all restraining orders (32%) issued were subsequently breached, Mr. Baksheev said.
"The legal and social consequences of this are serious and sobering both for the family and the defendant who may be subject to criminal charges," Mr. Baksheev said.
Mr. Baksheev’s study was supported by the Ian Potter Foundation. He reported that he had no relevant financial disclosures.