Abstract
Using a French-Canadian population-based longitudinal data set, we examine the impact of socioeconomic factors (paternal education and family structure); inherent individual factors (child gender and developmental trajectories of physical aggression from early to later childhood, problematic substance use), family environment (concurrent parent-child involvement, parental problematic substance use), and prospective and concurrent parenting process variables (mean parental supervision at puberty, concurrent punishment practices) as predictors of adolescent-directed aggression against fathers (in the last 6 months). A childhood behavioral pattern characterized by physical aggression showed the highest risk of adolescent-directed verbal and physical aggression toward fathers, regardless of sex. In terms of parental practices, verbal (and not corporal) punishment in the last 6 months significantly predicted aggression toward fathers. A childhood life-course of violence is likely to culminate in aggression toward fathers during adolescence. Beyond this risk, it seems that harsh verbal punishment by parents builds up the odds of child-directed aggression against fathers.
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Acknowledgements
This research, approved by the ethics board of University of Montreal, has been supported by research grants from the Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et l’Aide à la Recherche (FCAR-Centre), the Conseil Québécois de la Recherche Sociale (CQRS), the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec (FRSQ), the National Health Research Development Program Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
We extend our special thanks to Professor Daniel Pelletier of the Université du Québec en Qutaouais for his important contribution in developing the family violence questions for the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Children. This research, approved by the ethics board of the University, has been supported by Québec’s funding agencies: FCAR; FRSQ; CQRS; and Canada’s SSHRC. The authors thank Hélène Beauchesne for coordinating the data collection, and Lyse Desmarais-Gervais and Nicole Daudelin for creating the data bank.
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Pagani, L., Tremblay, R.E., Nagin, D. et al. Risk Factor Models for Adolescent Verbal and Physical Aggression Toward Fathers. J Fam Viol 24, 173–182 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-008-9216-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-008-9216-1