The Clinical Profile of Adolescent Offenders of Child-to-Parent Violence

AbstractThe aim of the present study was to examine whether juvenile offenders with charges for parent abuse had a different clinical profile from that of juveniles with charges for other offences and from that of non-offenders. The sample comprised 231 adolescents of both sexes aged 14 to 18 in the Basque Country (Spain), of whom 106 were juvenile offenders and the rest from a community sample. Some of the offenders had charges for parent abuse (n = 59). Juvenile offenders who were violent toward their parents showed more behaviour and emotional problems than offenders of other types and non-offenders. Certain psychological problems in adolescents could lead to family conflict situations, with parents finding themselves unable to control them