Assessment, frequency, and reasons for child-to-parent violence in a sample of Italian adolescents

Scientific literature shows that child-to-parent violence (CPV) is a worrying type of family violence present in different sociocultural contexts. However, the frequency of CPV is still unclear, especially in countries such as Italy, where the research is practically nonexistent and which also do not have validated CPV assessment tools adapted to their population. The aims were to analyze the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Child-to-Parent Violence Questionnaire (CPV-Q) and to examine the frequency and reasons for CPV in a sample of Italian adolescents. 562 adolescents (54.4% girls) aged between 13 and 18 years from educational centers in two regions of Italy participated. A population-based study was designed using cross-sectional surveys in which participants completed the CPV-Q. The original structure of the CPV-Q was validated with exceptional results, obtaining outstanding fit indices. The instrument demonstrated robust reliability in all its scales, robust validity in almost all scales, and total invariance according to the adolescent’s sex. High rates of CPV were found, with daughters showing more psychological (toward father), physical (toward mother), and control-domain (toward both parents) violent behaviors than sons, and mothers experiencing all types of CPV at higher rates than fathers. Daughters exercise CPV for more reactive reasons than sons. The study suggests a high prevalence of CPV among Italian adolescents, so urgent research resources are needed in the country. The CPV-Q can be used as an effective tool to identify and assess CPV in this population.