I am interested in any Australian research, studies or articles in the
last five years (from 1998 on) that looks at adolescent abuse of a
parent or parents  eg. physical, verbal, emotional, violent outbursts,
damaging property etc. I am aware of a Canadian study by Barbara
Cottrell but I am now interested in anything similar in Australia
only.

Hello cora,

Thank you for your question. 

I think I found some very good information for you.

In a paper Published by the Australian Domestic and Family Violence
Clearinghouse
ISSN: 1443-8496
UNSW Sydney NSW 2052
Ph: (02) 9385 2990  o  TTY: 02 9385 2995 
Fax: (02) 9385 2993 
Email: clearinghouse@unsw.edu.au 
Website: http://www.austdvclearinghouse.unsw.edu.au

Entitled "CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE"  and available
in Microsoft Word format here:
http://www.austdvclearinghouse.unsw.edu.au/Word%20Files/Issues_Paper%202.doc

You will find a great deal of information. Since there are many
references to other studies done in 1999 and 2000, I am confident this
work was done in the last 5 years.

Searching this document for the simple terms "towards parent"
uncovered several references and paragraphs:

"While there is growing concern about violence towards parents by
young people who have experienced domestic violence (e.g. Hastie
1998), there is little Australian research or practice documented. An
exception is a paper by Sheehan (1997) which outlines the clinical
approach of the Melbourne Mediation and Family Therapy Service
(MATTERS). Drawing on both psychodynamic theory and family therapy,
violence is viewed through the socio-political lens of culture, gender
and power. Their approach to helping families free themselves from
violence involves:

...making space for the young person to take responsibility for their
behaviour, and for parents and caregivers to stand up to the young
person's violence without feeling blamed or responsible for that
behaviour. (Sheehan 1997, p.80)

And...

"Considerable concern about the impact of domestic violence on
children and young people focuses on the possibility of the
transmission of violent behaviour from one generation to the next.
Violence by adolescents towards parents is frequently attributed to
the young person modelling this behaviour on a parent who has
perpetrated domestic violence (Howard 1995; McInnes 1995). In a sample
of 60 families presenting for counselling because of adolescent
violence towards a parent, Sheehan (1997) found that only 11 of the 60
young people had no history of exposure to some form of family
violence: 16 had witnessed domestic violence; 27 were survivors of
physical abuse and six were survivors of both physical and sexual
abuse. Again, teasing out the contribution of domestic violence when
there are high rates of direct child abuse is difficult and suggests
that processes more complex than simple modelling of violent behaviour
are involved.
In summary, children of different ages and developmental stages
exhibit differing responses to witnessing domestic violence. However,
as Margolin concludes, there are no clear patterns regarding the
specific effects of exposure for specific ages:

...it is not clear whether the differences noted across developmental
stages are a function of developmental stage, of amount of total
exposure, of age at initial exposure, or of a combination of these
factors. (Margolin 1998, p. 78)"

The references section shows this report:

McInnes, J. 1995, Violence Within Families: The Challenge of
Preventing Adolescent Violence Towards Parents, The Office for
Families and Children, Adelaide.

Many other references listed may be of interest to you, as will the
entire study.


As you might imagine, there are limited studies of this nature in that
time frame in Australia. I was able to uncover only one additional
that might be of interest to you:


Working with Adolescents to Prevent Domestic Violence from the
University of Western Australia available here:

http://nationalsecurity.ag.gov.au/www/rwpattach.nsf/viewasattachmentPersonal/621598081655ADB8CA256B4200807565/$file/no3_fullreport.pdf


Search Strategy:
"australian study" +"adolescent violence" +toward OR towards +parent"


I sincerely hope these studies are valuable to you and have provided
the answer you seek. If a link above should fail to work or anything
require further explanation, please do post a Request for
Clarification and I will be pleased to assist further.

Regards,

-=clouseau=-

Thank you for your quick response. The answer was good in that I had
not come across those particular references (even when researching the
Clearinghouse myself). However, the references only relate to when
children/adolescents have witnessed violence themselves. There are
many other reasons for it and I am trying to find references to back
up the expert anecdotal evidence that says it is a growing problem, it
is a family secret, and there is no one direct cause. Thanks again - I
will use this service again and found it valuable.

After an extensive search, I can only offer these tangental citations.


Stanley, J. R. and Goddard, C.R. (1993), ‘The association between
child abuse and other family violence’, Australian Social Work,
vol.46, no.2, pp.3—8, June.

Tomison, A.M. (1995a), ‘Linking child abuse and other family violence:
Findings from a case tracking study’, Family Matters, no.41, Winter,
pp.33-38.

Tomison, A.M. (1996d), Intergenerational Transmission of Maltreatment,
National Child Protection Clearinghouse Issues Paper no. 6, Australian
Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne.

Widom, C.S. (1989), ‘Does violence beget violence? A critical
examination of the literature’, Psychological Bulletin, vol.106, no.1,
pp.3-28.