Validation of the Explanations of Adolescent-to-Parent Violence Scale.

BACKGROUND

Adolescent-to-parent violence (APV) is a social problem that is seldom addressed from a psychosocial level of analysis. This work aims to fill this gap by developing the Escala de Explicaciones de la Violencia Filioparental (EEVFP), an instrument to measure APV explanations given spontaneously by ordinary people.

METHOD

The sample was composed of 763 men and women aged 15 to 79, with and without offspring.

RESULTS

Using a cross-validation procedure based on factorial analysis, the scale's underlying structure that best fit the data included six factors: Poor Parenting, Inadequate Environment, Emotional Reaction, Adolescence, and Evil/Madness. Evidence on the relationship between EEVFP and the Revised Scale of Causal Dimensions was also provided, as well as on differences in explanations due to gender and having children.

CONCLUSIONS

The results provide sufficient evidence of reliability and validity to consider EEVFP a useful tool in APV research exploring the relationship between APV explanations and subsequent behavior. This research may be helpful in training practitioners and in designing intervention strategies that avoid blaming parents and increase support from their surroundings.