Child-initiated family abuse (CIFA): An introduction

Fifteen years ago, I began exploring the issue of children who are abusive toward their parents. The limited research did not align with my own observations, and the terminology used across disciplines and services was varied and inconsistent. My PhD therefore focused on creating a greater awareness of CIFA from the parents’ perspectives.

Why CIFA?

The term ‘battered parent syndrome’ was first identified by Harbin and Madden in 1979. Since then, terms such as ‘child-to parent violence’ (CPV [Ibabe & Jaureguizar, 2010]) ‘child-to-parent and sibling assault’ (Buzawa & Hotaling, 2006); ‘child-initiated family violence’ (Walsh & Krienert, 2009); ‘child to parent violence and abuse’ (CAPVA [Respect, n.d]); and ‘adolescent to parent violence and abuse’ (APVA [Home Office, 2015]) have been variously used by researchers and service providers when referring to the phenomenon.

For my PhD the phrase CIFA was used to define the person (the child), who instigates the behaviour (initiated), and the person(s) (the family) who experiences the behaviour (the abuse). CIFA does not differentiate between abusive children and young people (CYP) up to age 18, recognising that any child within this age range may abuse family members. The term ‘family’ acknowledges that anyone living in the same household as the CYP may experience CIFA. The term ‘abuse’ incorporates physical, psychological, financial, verbal abuse and damage to property. Omitting the term ‘violence’ highlights the reality that abusive behaviour is not limited to physical acts (Wilcox, 2012).

Who exhibits CIFA?

Both boys and girls can, and do, exhibit CIFA. Whether abuse is reported or recorded depends on the sample studied, the type and severity of behaviour, and which family member is targeted. Boys are often over‑represented in clinical and criminal justice samples, particularly when referred for conduct disorders (Nock & Kazdin, 2002). However, parental reports - mostly from mothers as primary caregivers - show similar numbers of boys and girls exhibiting physical and verbal abuse (Parentline Plus, 2010). Reports by CYPs, however, have shown that girls tend to over-report and boys under-report physical abuse towards both parents and in particular their mother (Boxer et al., 2009) as male-to-female violence is viewed as less socially acceptable than male-to-male violence (Lyons et al., 2015).

Clinical research suggests that children as young as two can exhibit CIFA behaviour (Nock & Kazdin, 2002). Consequently, researchers have identified the age of onset of abusive behaviour from an early age and specifically before the age of five years (Biehal, 2012) with Ulman and Straus (2003) discovering that one-third of CYPs aged 3-5 years were physically abusive to a parent. Practitioners have identified children aged eight (Coogan, 2014) which may reflect the age at which CYP access support such as child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).

Research often concentrates on the peak age of abusive behaviour, typically 14–15 years (Calvete et al., 2015; Correll et al., 2017; Laurent & Derry, 1999). The peak age reflects the maximum frequency or severity of the abusive behaviour of the CYP. Parentline Plus (2010) similarly identified 13-15 as the peak age range, but noted that preschool children (3–5 years) were represented at comparable levels.

Who experiences CIFA?

Some research suggests that CIFA is a highly gendered phenomenon (Hunter et al., 2010). However, conceptualising CIFA solely in terms of boys abusing their mothers ignores the significant number of girls who exhibit CIFA (Calvete et al., 2013), fathers who experience CIFA (Pagani et al., 2009), fathers who are targeted more so than mothers (Laurent & Derry, 1999) and fathers who report their CYP to the police for abuse towards them (Condry & Miles, 2014).  Additionally, sibling abuse is sometimes minimised as a ‘normal’ part of growing up (Kim & Kim, 2016).

What behaviours are involved?

CIFA includes physical, psychological/emotional, verbal, financial abuse and damage to property. Research has largely focused on physical abuse, but psychological abuse is often described by parents as the most painful (Eckstein, 2004). As children grow, their increasing size was a common factor in parental reports linked to the frequency and severity of the physical abuse of parents (Holt, 2011). In contrast, Cottrell and Monk (2004) discovered that older, stronger CYPs were more likely to use intimidation, threats, and control tactics to gain power whilst younger, smaller, less powerful CYPs caused injury to their parents in order to obtain power. The absence of physical injury does not diminish the seriousness of CIFA or its impact on parents, though it does help explain why many parents do not contact services or the police.

Conclusion

CIFA can be exhibited by CYPs from an early age and is not gender specific. Any family member may experience abuse, with the type and severity influenced by the CYPs age and physical size. Establishing consistent terminology would support earlier recognition, detection, and intervention, reducing the impact of CIFA on families.

Reference List

Biehal, N. (2012). Parent Abuse by Young People on the Edge of Care: A Child Welfare Perspective. Social Policy and Society v11(2), pp.251–263. DOI: 10.1017/S1474746411000595

Boxer, P., Lakin Gullan, R. & Mahoney, A. (2009). Adolescents' Physical Aggression Towards Parents in a Clinic-Referred Sample. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, v38 (1), pp.106-116, DOI: 10.1080/15374410802575396

Buzawa, E., & Hotaling, G.T. (2006). The Impact of Relationship Status, Gender, and Minor Status in the Police Response to Domestic Assaults. An International Journal of Evidence-based Research, Policy, and Practice v1(4), pp.323-360

Calvete, E., Gámez‐Guadix, M., Orue, I., González‐Diez, Z., Lopez de Arroyabe, E., Sampedro, R., Pereira, R., Zubizarreta, A., & Borrajo, E. (2013). Brief report: The Adolescent Child–to-Parent Aggression Questionnaire: An examination of aggression against parents in Spanish Adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, v36, pp.1077-1081. DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.08.017

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Correll, J.R., Cusworth Walker, S., &. Edwards, T.C. (2017). Parent Perceptions of Participating in a Program for Adolescents Who Are Violent at Home. Journal of Family Violence v32, pp.243–255. DOI: 10.1007/s10896-016-9847-6

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Eckstein, N. J. (2004). Emergent Issues in Families Experiencing Adolescent-to-Parent Abuse, Western Journal of Communication, v68(4), pp.365-388. DOI: 10.1080/10570310409374809

Harbin, H.T., & Madden, D.J. (1979). Battered parents: a new syndrome. The American journal of psychiatry. 136(10) pp.1288-91.

Holt, A. (2011). ‘The terrorist in my home’: teenagers’ violence towards parents – constructions of parent experiences in public online message boards. Child and Family Social Work, v16, pp.454–463 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2206.2011.00760.x

Home Office (2015). The Home Office Information Guide: Adolescent to Parent Violence and Abuse (APVA).

Hunter, C., Nixon, J., & Parr, S. (2010). Mother abuse: a matter of youth justice, child welfare or domestic violence?. Journal of law and society, 37(2), 264-284.

Ibabe, I., & Jaureguizar, J. (2010). Child-to-Parent Violence Profile of abusive adolescents and their families Journal of Criminal Justice v (38) pp616–624

Kim, J. & Kim, E, (2016). ‘Bullied by Siblings and Peers: The Role of Rejecting/Neglecting Parenting and Friendship Quality Among Korean Children’. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. pp1–24. DOI: 10.1177/0886260516659659

Laurent, A, & Derry, A. (1999). ‘Violence of French adolescents towards their parents: characteristics and contexts’. Journal of Adolescent Health, 25(1), pp21-26

Lyons, J., Bell, T., Fréchette, S. & Romano, E. (2015). ‘Child-to-Parent Violence: Frequency and Family Correlates’. Journal of Family Violence v30, pp.729–742 DOI: 10.1007/s10896-015-9716-8

Nock, M.K & Kazdin, A.E. (2002). Parent-Directed Physical Aggression by Clinic-Referred Youths, Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, v31(2), pp.193-205

Pagani, L., Tremblay, R.E., Nagin, D., Zoccolillio, M., Vitaro, F., & McDuff, P. (2009). Risk Factor Models for Adolescent Verbal and Physical Aggression Towards Fathers. Journal of Family Violence. v24, pp.173-182. DOI: 10.1007/5 10896-008-9216-1

Parentline Plus, (2010). When family life hurts: Family experience of aggression in children, pp1-31.

Respect (n.d) CAPVA Child and Adolescent to Parent Violence and Abuse.

Ulman, A., & Straus, M. A. (2003). Violence by children against mothers in relation to violence between parents and corporal punishment by parents. Journal of comparative family studies, 34(1), 41-60.

Walsh, J.A. & Kreinert, J.L. (2009). A Decade of Child-Initiated Family Violence Comparative Analysis of Child–Parent Violence and Parricide Examining Offender, Victim, and Event Characteristics in a National Sample of Reported Incidents, 1995-2005. Journal of Interpersonal Violence v24(9), pp.1450-1477. DOI: 10.1177/0886260508323661

Wilcox, P. (2012). Is Parent Abuse a Form of Domestic Violence? Social Policy and Society, 11(2), 277–288. DOI: 10.1017/S1474746411000613

Author

APRG Researcher, Dr Fiona Mae Creevy