Socio-cognitive variables involved in the relationship between violence exposure at home and child-to-parent violence

Lourdes Contreras; Samuel P León; M Carmen Cano-Lozano

doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.01.017

Socio-cognitive variables involved in the relationship between violence exposure at home and child-to-parent violence

J Adolesc. 2020 Apr:80:19-28. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.01.017. Epub 2020 Feb 12.

Authors

Lourdes Contreras¹, Samuel P León², M Carmen Cano-Lozano³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Jaén, Office C5-019,124, Campus Las Lagunillas, S/n, 23071, Jaén, Spain. Electronic address: lmcontre@ujaen.es.
² Department of Education, University of Jaén, Office C5-232, Campus Las Lagunillas, S/n, 23071, Jaén, Spain. Electronic address: sparra@ujaen.es.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Jaén, Office C5-019,124, Campus Las Lagunillas, S/n, 23071, Jaén, Spain. Electronic address: mccano@ujaen.es.

PMID: 32058871
DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.01.017

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of the current cross-sectional study was to examine the role of social-cognitive processing in the relation between violence exposure at home and child-to-parent violence.

Methods: The study included 1,624 adolescents (54.9% girls) aged between 12 and 18 years (M_age = 14.7, SD = 1.7 years) from Jaén and Oviedo (Spain) who completed a set of questionnaires about violence exposure, child-to-parent violence and social-cognitive processing.

Results: The data revealed that exposure to violence at home is related to dysfunctional components of social-cognitive processing, and that whereas some of these components (anger and aggressive response access) are positively related to child-to-parent violence motivated by reactive reasons, other components (anticipation of positive consequences and justification of violence) are positively related to the instrumental use of the aggression against parents.

Conclusions: More prevention work is needed with children exposed to violence at home to reduce the risk of intergenerational transmission of violence. Moreover, treatment programs should include intervention on the way in which adolescents process the information in their interactions with parents. These interventions must be focused on different components of social-cognitive processing, depending on whether these aggressive behaviors are motivated by reactive or instrumental reasons.

Keywords: Adolescents; Child-to-parent violence; Family violence; Social-cognitive processing.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Child
Cognition*
Cross-Sectional Studies
Domestic Violence*
Exposure to Violence*
Female
Humans
Male
Parent-Child Relations*
Spain
Surveys and Questionnaires