Lifting the Veil of Silence: Parental Harsh Discipline Predicts Adolescent-to-Parent Violence

Adolescent-to-parent violence, despite receiving inadequate attention, is increasingly evidenced to be prevalent. The current study explored the association between parental harsh discipline and adolescent-to-parent violence and examined the mediating effect of moral disengagement and the moderating effects of impulsivity and family socioeconomic status on this relation.

A total of 1420 Chinese adolescents (mean age = 14.07 years, SD = 0.64) completed self-report measures of parental harsh discipline, moral disengagement, adolescent-to-parent violence, and impulsivity.

The findings revealed that parental harsh discipline positively predicted adolescent-to-parent violence and moral disengagement mediated this relation. Moreover, impulsivity and family socioeconomic status significantly moderated the direct and indirect relations between parental harsh discipline and adolescent-to-parent violence. Specifically, the direct and indirect relations became stronger for adolescents with high impulsivity or low family socioeconomic status.

The present study contributes to our understanding of the key mechanisms underlying the association between parental harsh discipline and adolescent-to-parent violence, which have important theoretical and practical significance for preventing or intervening in adolescent-to-parent violence from the perspective of parenting styles.