What are the causes of childrens violence to parents?
I now have a sample of over 300 young people who have been abusive to parents. I’ve also had feedback from over 1,000 professionals who have attended my workshops and have studied the research (see my Master’s thesis). However, the research is full of contradictions and “experts” disagree strongly on even the most basic facts about violence to parents. Although my sample is probably the largest of its kind in the world it is based on families who have asked for help or attended a group so it is quite likely that there are selection biases. There is NEVER just one cause for complex behaviour and “explanations” of someone’s behaviour may be in terms of the individual (both genetic/biological and past experience), the family and the wider society. All of these play a part. Gender: Being male is the biggest single influence on abuse of parents. In my sample 70% of the children violent to parents are boys. The number of girls is creeping up but the idea that boys and girls are equal in viol
