MADRID, 24 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The files opened on young people for a crime of violence against their parents in Spain remain above 4,000, although they have decreased by 8.6% in the last year, going from 4,740 in 2021 to 4,332 in 2022, according to the data published by Fundación Amigó in its study ‘Child-parent violence in Spain. Data 2022’.
Despite this decrease, the foundation warns that the figure is similar to that of recent years and points out that it is a “serious social problem” since it is estimated that only the most serious cases are reported, between 10% and 15% of the total, most cases remaining hidden.
By autonomous community, the study analyzes the different regional reports of the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Offices and shows heterogeneous data. Thus, Andalusia is the region where the highest number of files are opened on minors for this type of crime, with 1,095 during 2022, followed by the Valencian Community with 707 and the Community of Madrid, with 677.
“It should be noted that child-to-parent violence continues to be a silenced phenomenon, which is why only a small proportion of cases are reported. Fathers and mothers feel a lot of guilt and many doubts when taking this step; we continually hear that “If they take that step, their children will never forgive them. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on supporting fathers and mothers, and on prevention and awareness work,” said the psychologist in the Conviviendo Project of the Amigó Foundation. , Cristina Vaquero.
As he has warned, “the cases that are reported are usually the most serious in terms of level of violence, but violence does not begin when physical violence is already present, it always begins at lower levels of violence, in the face of behaviors that are normalized or downplayed.
For this reason, he has insisted on the need to “prevent and begin to intervene as soon as the slightest violence occurs, promoting the involvement of all family members and socio-educational agents.”
Fundación Amigó has carried out a research project to understand the profile of people who experience situations of child-parent violence. Through this research, with a sample of 3,800 people, they have analyzed different risk factors that influence the incidence of this type of violence.
Among the conclusions, it stands out that the average age of the children who exercise this violence against their parents is 15 and a half years; that the incidence is higher in boys (56%) than in girls (44%) and that in 30% of cases they are only children.
Furthermore, it reveals that in 54% of cases, the children’s school performance has decreased; that in 23%, children have suffered bullying at school; that in 49%, they present some type of addiction and in 32%, they have witnessed some type of violence. Furthermore, 51% are part of nuclear families, followed by 23%, who are single-parent maternal families.
To stop child-parent violence, Fundación Amigó develops the Coviviendo Project in Madrid, A Coruña, Vigo, Lugo, Bilbao, Torrelavega, Valencia, Castellón and Alicante. This is a free resource for families experiencing conflict situations and its objective is to accompany them in acquiring the strategies, tools and skills necessary to face the situation from a different perspective.
Likewise, the entity has launched crowdfunding on its website with the aim of raising funds to continue providing free care to families experiencing these types of situations.
