The Role of Parental Communication and Emotional Intelligence in Child-to-Parent Violence

Abstract

In recent years, cases of child-to-parent violence (CPV) have increased significantly, prompting greater scientific interest in clarifying its causes. The aim of this research was to study the relationship between styles of family communication (open, offensive and avoidant), emotional intelligence or EI (attention, repair and perceived emotional clarity) and CPV, taking into account the gender of the aggressors. The participants of the study were 1200 adolescents (46.86% boys) between the ages of 12 and 18 enrolled at secondary schools in the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia and Valencia (M = 13.88, SD = 1.32). A Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA, 3 × 2) was performed with CPV and gender as independent variables and family communication styles and EI as dependent variables. The results showed that the adolescents with low CPV obtained lower scores for offensive and avoidant family communication and higher scores for both positive family communication and emotional repair. The girls scored higher than the boys in both offensive communication and perceived emotional attention. The results highlight the importance of encouraging positive communication, as well as the need to strengthen perceived emotional repair to prevent future cases of CPV.