Psychic Violence of Adolescents against Their Mothers. Five Case Studies on Causes, Consequences and Coping Strategies

Author(s):

Reinhard Fatke(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2013

Network:

05. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

05 SES 03, (Preventing) Bullying and Violence

Paper Session

Time:

2013-09-10

17:15-18:45

Room:

D-313

Chair:

Ruth Leitch

Contribution

Violence in families is a topic that has been well studied over the past decades. But most studies focus mainly on violent acts of parents, especially fathers, against their children or of husbands against their wives. However, violent acts of children against their parents have been focused upon only very rarely – and if so, it was physical acts of violence, whereas the even more widespread phenomenon of psychic violence has been widely neglected so far. Thus, the study of adolescents’ psychic violence against their mothers is the topic of this paper. The reason why mothers (and not fathers) are focused upon is that in most cases where psychic violence of adolescents occurs within the family the father is no longer present because he either divorced or left the family.

Since psychic violence is not easy to identify phenomenologically, it needs to be operationalized. This is done by defining psychic violence as denial of affection and trust, as emotional blackmailing and threatening, as verbal violence in forms of insulting or humiliating remarks as well as indirect aggressions by destroying personal objects that have a high value for the specific person. On the basis of general literature on aggression and violence and of specific literature on violence in families a theoretical framework of psychic violence of adolescents against their mothers is developed drawing upon theories of psychopathology, social learning, family constellations, and social control.

The research questions underlying this study are: How did the mother-child relationship develop since childhood in the context of family dynamics? What are the developmental changes that led to the power position of the child or adolescent, respectively? What are the concrete situations in which violent acts against mothers happen? What are the latent and manifest causes of the violent acts? What are the consequences of the violent acts? What are the effects on the mental health of the mother and on the rest of the family and how do mothers cope with this strain? How do mothers try to improve the relationship with their child?

Method

Since the topic is heavily afflicted with shame and therefore is widely placed under a taboo, it is very difficult to find subjects willing to be interviewed. No child nor adolescent responded to a call placed in social media. In the end, five mothers of different ages were found willing to participate in the study. They experienced for a longer period of time intense acts of psychic violence from their sons (3) resp. daughters (2). It turned out that the mothers could give accurate descriptions and detailed narratives of what they experienced and thus contributed more to an in-depth understanding of the problem than maybe their children could have done. The mothers were involved in a lengthy problem-centered interview (according to Witzel)which lasted up to two hours. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed according to the method of Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin).

Expected Outcomes

The five cases are first analyzed individually and then compared with each other. A pattern to be found in all five cases is a very problematic family dynamics, consisting of controlling, permissive and conflicting styles of education, reinforcement of violence through denial, loyalty and guilt as well as health problems of the parents. In terms of the ontogenesis of adolescent violence, it is mainly the limited parental binding, the predominant absence of the father, school problems and partly consummation of drugs that are the dominant factors contributing to adolescent violence. The consequences for the mothers are massive, sometimes leading to suicide attempts. In order to cope with this strain, the mothers seek support in social networks. Professional help (from psychologists, educators or social workers) is seeked only rarely. Implications of the research study for social action and educational measures are outlined.

References

Brezina, Timothy (1999): Teenage Violence Toward Parents as an Adaption to Family Strain. Evidence From a National Survey of male Adolescents. In: Youth & Society. 1999. Vol. 30 No. 4. S. 416-444. Cottrell, Barbara/Monk, Peter (2004): Adolescent-to-Parent Abuse: A Qualitative Overview of Common Themes. In: Journal of Family Issues. 2004. Vol. 25 No. 8. S. 1072-1095. Fine, Louis L. (1979): Die Rebellion der großen Kinder. Ursachen und Überwindung der Konflikte zwischen Eltern und Heranwachsenden. München: Mosaik Verlag GmbH. Godenzi, Alberto (1994): Gewalt im sozialen Nahraum. Basel, Frankfurt am Main: Helbing und Lichtenhahn. Habermehl, Anke (1999): Gewalt in der Familie. In: Albrecht, Günter/Groenemeyer, Axel/Stallberg, W. Friedrich (Hrsg.): Handbuch soziale Probleme. Opladen, Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag. Jakob, Andreas (1994): “Battered Parents“. Eine Umfrage in Baden-Württemberg. Tübingen: Dissertation. Lamnek, Siegfried/Luedke, Jens/Ottermann Ralf (2006): Tatort Familie. Häusliche Gewalt im gesellschaftlichen Kontext. 2. Auflage. Wiesbaden: VS. Steck, Maria/Cizek, Brigitta (2001): Exkurs: Gewalt von Kindern gegen Eltern. In.: Bundesministerium für Soziale Sicherheit und Generationen (Hrsg.): Gewalt in der Familie. Gewaltbericht 2001. Von der Enttabuisierung zur Professionalisierung. Wien: S. 184-188. Strauss, Anselm/Corbin, Juliet (1996): Grounded Theory: Grundlagen Qualitativer Forschung. Weinheim: Psychologie Verlags Union. Ulman, Arina/Straus, A. Murray (2003): Violence by Children Against Mothers in Relation to Violence Between Parents and Corporal Punishment by Parents. In: Journal of Comparative Family Studies. 2003. 34/1. S. 41-60. Witzel, Andreas (1985): Das problemzentrierte Interview. In: Jüttemann, Gerd (Hg.): Qualitative Forschung in der Psychologie. Grundfragen, Verfahrensweisen, Anwendungsfelder. Weinheim, Basel: Beltz. S. 227- 225.

Author Information

Reinhard Fatke (presenting / submitting)

University of Zurich, Switzerland

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