Violence of French adolescents toward their parents: characteristics and contexts

To determine the social, familial, and psychiatric characteristics of children who batter their parent(s); and to report clinical vignettes of this phenomenon and contexts which precipitate such violence.

In this retrospective study, we analyzed the medical records of the 645 children hospitalized in a child and adolescent psychiatry department between 1987 and 1996.

The principle findings were that: (a) 3.4% of the patients demonstrate parent battering; (b) the average age of parent batterers is 14 years old, and they are predominately male; and (c) their mothers are more often the victims than their fathers, and there is a high frequency of psychiatric disorders among parents. Seven clinical vignettes have been presented to represent different family contexts of the 22 cases of domestic violence in this study.

Further studies are needed to deepen our knowledge of violence perpetrated by adolescents toward their parents. A better knowledge of etiological mechanisms involved would permit more preventative action for families at risk.