Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore the family dynamics that are associated with parental psychological violence. A qualitative theorizing analysis has been performed upon the content of 26 interviews with parents and practitioners, in order to: (1) develop a typology of family dynamics conducive to psychologically violent parental practices, and (2) provide some support to this typology by confronting it with other data and real life cases. The results suggest four types of families in which psychological violence is likely to occur, characterized respectively by a scapegoat child, a domineering and intolerant father, a rigid and manipulative mother, and a chaotic and incompetent parent. Participants' explanations of the occurrence of psychological violence in a given family support the proposed typology: a different explanatory profile is associated with each type of psychologically violent family. Furthermore, the typology has been submitted to practitioners working in the fields of child protection and community family support, who applied the typology to real files in their caseloads in order to assess its usefulness in clinical settings. This procedure supported the relevance of the proposed typology for practice.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Abric, J.-C. (1994). Les représentations sociales: aspects théoriques. In Abric, J.-C. (ed.), Pratiques sociales et représentations, Presses Universitaires France (PUF) Paris, France.
Baily, T. F., and Baily, W. H. (1986). Operational Definitions of Child Emotional Maltreatment: Final Report, National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (DHHS 90-CA-0956), Washington, DC.
Beavers, W. R. (1982). Healthy, midrange, and severely dysfunctional families. In Walsh, F. (ed.), Normal Family Processes, Guilford, New York 45-66.
Beavers, W. R., and Hampson, R. (1990). Successful Families: Assessment and Intervention, Norton, New York.
Belpaire, F. (1994). Pour un diagnostic systémique différentiel. Rev. Can. Psychol. Éduc. 23(1): 55-64.
Belsky, J. (1993). Etiology of child maltreatment: A developmental-ecological analysis. Psychol. Bull. 114: 413-434.
Berger, A. M. (1980). The Child Abusing Family: II. Child and Child-Rearing Variables, Environmental Factors and Typologies of Abusing Families American Journal of Family Therapy, 8(4): 52-68.
Bouchard, C., and Tessier, R. (1996). Conduites à caractère violent à l'endroit des enfants. In Québec, S. (ed.), Conduites à caractère violent dans la résolution de conflits entre proches, Gouvernement du Québec, Québec, Canada 45-66.
Brassard, M. R., Germain, R., and Hart, S. N. (eds.) (1987). Psychologi-cal Maltreatment of Children and Youth, Pergamon, Elmsford, NY.
Clément, M.-È., Bouchard, C., Jetté, M., and Laferrière, S. (2000). La violence familiale dans la vie des enfants du Québec, Institut de la statistique du Québec, Québec, Canada.
Development and Psychopathology (1991). Special issue: Defining Psychol. Maltreat. 3(2).
Epstein, N. B., Baldwin, L., and Bishop, D. S. (1983). The McMaster family assessment device. J. Marital Fam. Ther. 9: 171-180.
Epstein, N. B., Bishop, D. S., and Levin, S. (1978). The McMaster model of family functionning. J. Marriage Fam. Couns. 4: 19-31.
Flanagan, J. C. (1954). The Critical Incident Technique. Psychol. Bull. 51: 327-358.
Forward, S. (1989). Toxic Parents, Bantam, New York.
Gagné, M.-H., and Bouchard, C. (2000). Validation sociale du construit llviolence psychologiquegg dans le cas des enfants maltraités. Can. Soc. Work Rev. 17: 225-244.
Gagné, M.-H., and Malo, C. (2001). Development of a Screening Tool for Psychological Maltreatment of Children. Poster presented at the 9th Annual Meeting of the Society for Prevention Research, Washington, DC, May 31–June 2, 2001.
Garbarino, J., Guttmann, E., and Seeley, J. W. (1986). The Psychologically Battered Child, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.
Glaser, B. G., and Strauss, A. L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, Alkine, New York.
Hart, S. N., and Brassard, M. R. (1991). Developing and Validating Operationnally Defined Measures of Emotional Maltreatment, DHHS and NCCAN, Washington, DC.
Headland, T. N., Pike, K. L., and Harris, M. (1990). Emics and Etics. The Insider/Outsider Debate Newbury Park, CA: Sage 226pp.
Hickox, A., and Furnell, J. R. G. (1989). Psychosocial and background factors in emotional abuse of children. Child Care Health Dev. 15: 227-240.
Kaslow, F. (1993). Relational diagnosis: Past, present and future. Am. J. Fam. Ther. 21(3), 195-204.
Malo, C., and Gagné, M.-H. (2002). Guide de soutien a evaluation du risque de mauvais traitements psychologiques envers les enfants. Montreal, PQ: IRDS. 70pp.
Moos, R. H., and Moos, B. S. (1976). A typology of family social environments. Fam. Process 15: 357-371.
Moos, R. H., and Moos, B. S. (1981). Family Environment Scale Manual, Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA.
Moscovici, S. (ed.) (1972). Introduction à la psychologie sociale, Librairie Larousse, Paris.
Moscovici, S. (ed.) (1984). Psychologie sociale, Presses universitaires de France, Paris.
Mucchielli, A. (1996). Dictionnaire des méthodes qualitatives en sciences humaines et sociales, Armand Colin Paris, France.
Ney, P. G. (1987). Does verbal abuse leave deeper scars: A study of children and parents. Can. J. Psychiatry 32: 371-378.
Olson, D. H. (1986). Circumplex model VII: Validation studies and FACES III. Fam. Process 25: 337-351.
Olson, D. H., Russell, C., and Sprenkle, D. H. (1983). Circumplex model of marital and family systems: VI. Theoretical update. Fam. Process 22: 69-83.
Olson, D. H., Sprenkle, D. H., and Russell, C. (1979). Circumplex model of marital and family systems: I. Cohesion and adaptability dimensions, family types, and clinical applications. Fam. Process 18: 3-28.
Pillari, V. (1991). Scapegoating in Families. Intergenerational Patterns of Physical and Emotional Abuse, Brunner/Mazel, New York.
Pirès, A. P. (1997). Échantillonnage et recherche qualitative: essai théorique et méthodologique. In J. Poupart, J.-P. Daslauriers, L. H. Groulx, A. Laperriére, R. Mayer &; A. P. Pirés (eds.), La recherche qualitative: enjeux épistémologiques et méthodologiques. Boucherville, P.Q.: Gaëtan Morin éditeur, pp. 113-169.
QSR (1997). NUD bullet IST 4, Scolari—Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Ryan, G. D. (1991). The juvenile sex offender's family. In Ryan, G. D., and Lane, S. L., (eds.), Juvenile Sexual Offending, Lexington Books, Lexington, MA.
Sawin, K. J., and Harrigan, M. (1994). Scholarly inquiry for nursing practice. Special Issue: Measures Fam. Funct. Res. Pract. 8, 5-142.
Strauss, A. L., and Carbin, J. M. (1990). Basics of Qualitative research: grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 270pp.
Straus, M. A., Hamby, S. L., Finkelhor, D., Moore, D. W., and Runyan, D. (1998). Identification of child maltreatment with the Parent–Child Conflict Tactics Scales: Development and psychometric data for a national sample of American parents. Child Abuse Negl. 22: 249-270.
Vissing, Y. M., Straus, M. A., Gelles, R. J., and Harrop, J. W. (1991). Verbal aggression by parents and psychosocial problems of children. Child Abuse Negl. 15: 223-238.
Walsh, F. (1982). Conceptualizations of normal family functioning. In Walsh, F. (ed.), Normal Family Processes, Guilford, New York.
Woolsey, L. K. (1986). The Critical Incident Technique: An innovative qualitative method of research. Can. J. Couns. 20: 242-254.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gagné, MH., Bouchard, C. Family Dynamics Associated with the Use of Psychologically Violent Parental Practices. Journal of Family Violence 19, 117–130 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOFV.0000019842.74408.b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOFV.0000019842.74408.b0