Family Profile of Young Offenders Who Abuse Their Parents: A Comparison With General Offenders and Non-Offenders

This study aimed to explore the family profile of adolescent-to-parent abuse cases. Concretely, this paper examines whether or not there is a different family profile of parent-abuse offenders compared with other types of offenders and with non-offender adolescents. The sample included 90 adolescents who were clustered into three groups (parent-abuse offenders, other type of offenders, and non-offender adolescents). Participants completed measures of quality of communication with parents and parents’ educational styles. They were also evaluated using a brief interview with questions about family structure. Results indicate offenders who assault their parents have a different family structure and dynamics. Differences were found concerning the type of household, family size, and family incomes. In addition, parent-abuse offenders reported a lower quality of communication with both parents perceiving them as less warm, more rejecting, and less inductive than did the other groups.