An Exploratory Study on Child-Parent Abuse: Nature, Cause and Effect of Abusing Parents by their own Children (original) (raw)
Child-Parent abuse is a very sensitive and complex issue like that of other types of abuses in the family. Though, it has received very limited attention and recognition from researchers and concerned bodies. In Ethiopia there are no organized data which shows its prevalence. Creating an awareness of the problem is essential to provide an adequate help for the victims or to follow up planed intervention methods. To feel this gap, a phenomenological study was conducted based on the lived experience of 10 parents (6mothers and 4 fathers) who are experiencing CPA in Gulele sub city of Addis Ababa. Data were collected using an in-depth interview with this parents and the researcher’s observation; and it was analyzed simultaneously with interpretative analysis method. The finding of the study shows that some parents have suffered a great deal from the various acts of abuses by their own children. In general, it was identified that the abuses includes verbal, physical, and financial and material exploitations. The verbal abuse includes, constant insults, threatening to harm, humiliation and demeaning reactions. The financial and material exploitation or abuse consists of stealing money or parents’ belongings, demanding the parent to buy things knowing that they can’t afford and selling possessions of theirs or their parents’ and destroying the parents’ belongings. And a serious incident from choking and slapping to the use of weapons resulting grave bodily injuries is included under the physical abuse nature of CPA. Because of this parents are suffering stigma from their neighbors and from the society, physical injuries, emotional and psychological problems. It is found out that the abusive Childs’ addiction (of alcohol, khat and substance abuse); economic dependency or nemployment, past abusive experience of the parent and negative peer influence are the major causes. The parents take reporting the abuse to the police as a last measure after having to deal with it for a long time. All measures the parents took to handle the situation are unsatisfactory to them; because they want ending the abuse not their relationship with their child. Therefore the necessary attention and professional response is indispensable.
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