Risk and Protective Factors of Child-to-Parent Violence: A Comparison Between Physical and Verbal Aggression.

Child-to-parent violence (CPV) is a social problem that remains vastly understudied compared with other forms of family violence. The aim of this study is to identify family and child risk and protective factors of CPV, and to investigate whether they differentially predict physical and verbal parent-directed violence among boys and girls. Predictors include parenting behavior during childhood (physical and verbal violence, warmth, monitoring) and respondents' individual characteristics (suicidal ideation, self-control, problematic substance use). Data were examined from a large representative sample of ninth graders (N = 6,444) in Lower Saxony, Germany. Bivariate analyses showed that female adolescents were more likely to aggress verbally, while no gender differences were found for physical CPV. Multilevel logistic regression models revealed that direct experiences of parental physical and verbal violence during childhood were among the strongest predictors of physical and verbal CPV, both among males and females. While parental monitoring was not significantly associated with CPV, parental warmth protected girls from physical parent-directed aggression. Furthermore, high self-control was protective against verbal CPV as well as boys' physical CPV, while problematic substance use predicted physical violence toward parents in both sexes but only boys' verbal CPV. Suicidal ideation was a risk factor of aggression in males only. Except for parental warmth, the importance of risk and protective factors did not substantially vary across child gender. These findings broaden our understanding of different family and child-related factors that either promote or prevent CPV. Specifically, they point to the importance of the parenting context and especially harsh discipline practices for the occurrence of both physical and verbal CPV.

Associations Between Classroom Normative Climate and the Perpetration of Teen Dating Violence Among Secondary School Students.

The aim of this study was to investigate how classroom normative climate regarding the perpetration of teen dating violence (TDV) was related to adolescents' self-reported perpetration of (verbal/emotional, threatening, relational, physical, and sexual) violence within romantic relationships in the previous 12 months. Based on Theory of Normative Conduct, we hypothesized that higher classroom levels of TDV perpetration were associated with a higher likelihood of individual TDV perpetration. Data were drawn from a large survey of ninth-grade students conducted in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany (n = 10,638). From this sample, an analysis sample of n = 4,351 students at risk was drawn (mean age: 15.0, SD: 0.76; 46.6% male). More than half (54.8%) of the at-risk sample reported engagement in any form of TDV within the previous 12 months, whereby rates varied considerably by the dimension of TDV. Controlling for a range of risk factors on the classroom level (proportion of students dependent on social welfare, proportion of students with migration background) and individual level (exposure to family violence, sociodemographic characteristics, TDV victimization, and peer- and school-related factors), regression analyses showed that higher rates of classroom-level TDV perpetration were positively related to individual verbal/emotional TDV perpetration. This pattern of results was observable across all dimensions of TDV. Furthermore, gender-specific patterns of TDV perpetration were observable: Girls were more affected by classroom levels of verbal/emotional and physical TDV than boys, while boys were more affected by classroom levels of relational and sexual TDV. Results highlight the role of the wider peer context in shaping adolescent dating experiences and specifically point to the relevance of the classroom ecology for the socialization of dating violence in adolescents.

Factor Structure of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits in a Representative Sample of German 9th Grade Students.

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits represent the affective components of the psychopathy construct and show a strong relationship to violence and conduct-disorder in children. The Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) is the current standard to assess CU traits. Despite the ICU having originally been constructed as a four-dimensional instrument, several studies found a three-factorial structure in combination with a general ICU-factor to be the best fitting factor-model. An imbalance in the number of positively and negatively worded items can be observed between the identified ICU dimensions. To investigate the effect of item keying on the factor structure we tested different factor-models in data stemming from a large sample (N = 3878) of German ninth grade students. Our findings suggest that the original four-factorial structure with a method factor shows good model fit. This solution is furthermore in line with the specifiers of the additional coding of Limited Prosocial Emotions for Conduct Disorder in the DSM-V.

Epidemiology of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and direct self-injurious behavior in adolescents with a migration background: a representative study.

BACKGROUND: Data on the prevalence of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and direct self-injurious behavior in adolescents with a migration background are scarce. There are hints that this population is at risk. The aim of the study is to investigate the epidemiology of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and direct self-injurious behavior in adolescents with a migration background in Germany while taking gender-specific differences into consideration. METHODS: A representative study with N = 10,638 students (mean age 14.91 years, SD = .73).) in the state of Lower Saxony in Germany was conducted. In the 2014-2015 school year, 672 classes were selected by randomly sampling different school types. The participation rate was 84.1%, excluding any classes for which the director refused to provide consent. A total of 49.8% were female adolescents, and 23.3% of the participants had a migration background. Target variables were assessed with items from the Ottawa Self-Injury Inventory, the Self-Harm Behavior Questionnaire and the Self-Harm Inventory, partly adapted. RESULTS: Of all students, 7.6% had a lifetime history of suicide attempts, and 36.6% answered with a rating of at least "rarely" when asked to rate the lifetime prevalence of suicidal ideation. The 12-month prevalence of direct self-injurious behavior was 17.8%. Adolescents with a migration background showed a significantly higher prevalence of all three constructs (p = .006; p < .001; p = .006). Male students with a migration background reported a significantly higher lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts (4.7% vs. 3.1%) than native males (p = .009). Female students with a migration background reported a significantly higher lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts (15.9% vs. 10.4%) and suicidal ideation ("often" 12.1% vs. 8.9%) than native female students (p < .001; p = .008). CONCLUSION: Our assessment indicates an elevated risk for suicidal behaviors in adolescents with a migration background. From research on adults, it is known that the dominant motives for suicidal behavior in migrants are associated with their migration history/situation. As suggested by Cramer and Kapusta's (Front Psychol 8:1756, 2017) theoretical model, the Social-Ecological Framework of Theory, Assessment, and Prevention, there is a need for culturally sensitive preventions that take into account the specific reasons for suicide attempts in migrants.

Importation and deprivation factors influencing teacher-targeted aggression among secondary school students in Germany: A multilevel analysis.

Relying on an importation and deprivation framework, the study assessed a variety of risk factors associated with self-reported teacher-targeted aggression among ninth grade students (n = 5,673). Using a cross-sectional school survey conducted in one German federal state, two forms of teacher-targeted aggression were assessed: verbal (insulting, threatening, and mocking) and physical (beating and pushing) aggression. Every ninth student reported verbal aggression, while 0.5% of students reported physical aggression against teachers. Multilevel probability models showed that individual importation factors (low self-control, male gender, and exposure to severe parental violence), together with individual deprivation factors (repeated victimization by teachers and low school achievement) play a role in explaining teacher-targeted aggression. The school-level deprivation factor of negative teacher-student relationships was also relevant, whereas low teacher control and attending lower-level schools were unrelated to the perpetration of teacher-targeted aggression. The present study stresses the need to acknowledge the multilevel etiology of teacher-targeted aggression.

Prevalence and Correlates of Cyberbullying Perpetration. Findings from a German Representative Student Survey.

Based on a survey of 9512 ninth-grade students conducted in Lower Saxony in 2013, this paper examines the prevalence of cyberbullying perpetration and the correlates of this behavior. Binary logistic multilevel regression was used in order to analyze correlates of sexual and psychological cyberbully perpetration. In the preceding semester, 2.4% of the adolescents were perpetrators of psychological cyberbullying and 0.4% bullied someone online sexually. Low levels of empathy, frequent consumption of violent media, and being victims of aggressive online behaviors are correlated with the risk that a child will become a bully. Female adolescents are less likely than boys to engage in sexual cyberbullying perpetration, but they are more likely to engage in psychological cyberbullying perpetration. Only a small share of adolescents engage in sexual and psychological cyberbullying perpetration. Both behaviors differ in their correlates, however being a victim of aggressive online behaviors increase the risk for perpetration of both behaviors, respectively.

Cyber-Dependent Crime Victimization: The Same Risk for Everyone?

The Internet has simplified daily life activities. However, besides its comfortability, the Internet also presents the risk of victimization by several kinds of crimes. The present article addresses the question of which factors influence cyber-dependent crime and how they vary between three kinds of cyber-dependent offences: malware infection, ransomware infection, and misuse of personal data. According to the Routine Activity Approach, it is assumed that crime is determined by a motivated offender, the behavior of the Internet user, and the existence of prevention factors. Our analyses were based on a random sample of 26,665 Internet users in two federal states in Germany, aged 16 years and older; 16.6 percent of the respondents had experienced at least one form of cyber-dependent victimization during the year 2014. The results indicate that individual and household factors, as well as online and prevention behavior, influence the risk of cyber-dependent victimization. Furthermore, the effects differ between the three types of offences. In conclusion, the risk of being victimized by cyber-dependent crime is not the same for anyone, but depends on multivariate factors according to the idea of Routine Activity Approach. However, in view of the fact that crime-related factors also matter, studying different cybercrime offences separately seems to be an appropriate research approach.

Differential Influences of Parenting Dimensions and Parental Physical Abuse during Childhood on Overweight and Obesity in Adolescents.

Besides other explanatory variables, parenting styles and parental violence might also be responsible for setting a path towards overweight/obesity in childhood. While this association has consistently been observed for adults, findings for adolescents still remain scarce and inconsistent. Therefore, the goal of this study is to add evidence on this topic for children and adolescents. Analyses are based on a sample of 1729 German, ninth-grade students. To analyze associations between parenting dimensions and weight status, non-parametric conditional inference trees were applied. Three gender-specific pathways for a heightened risk of overweight/obesity were observed: (1) female adolescents who report having experienced severe parental physical abuse and medium/high parental warmth in childhood; (2) male adolescents who report having experienced low or medium parental monitoring in childhood; and (3) this second pathway for male adolescents is more pronounced if the families receive welfare. The importance of promoting parenting styles characterized by warmth and a lack of physical abuse is also discussed. This is one of only a few studies examining the association of parenting dimensions/parental physical abuse and weight status in adolescence. Future studies should include even more parenting dimensions, as well as parental physical abuse levels, in order to detect and untangle gender-specific effects on weight status.