Spain have been at the forefront of much research into child-to-parent violence, and the area of cyber child-to-parent violence is no different. In this blog, authored by Rodriguez-Gonzalez, S., Fernández-Gonzalez, L., Echezarraga, A., & Del Hoyo-Bilbao, J.; University of Deusto (Spain), we have the opportunity to see what cyber CPV cases may look like…
Child-to-Parent Violence (CPV) is defined as any physical, psychological, and economic acts perpetrated by children against their parental figures (Pereira et al., 2017). Over the past decade, an exponential increase in CPV cases has been observed in Spain (Fundación Amigó, 2022). Similarly, a report issued by Fundación Amigó (2024) indicated that 4,416 CPV cases were officially recorded in 2023, with Andalusia, Ceuta, and Melilla presenting the highest number of cases, totalling 1,012 registered incidents.
Prevalence rates reported by adolescents show considerable variability. Specifically, in Spanish samples physical CPV perpetrated at least once during the past year ranges between 7.4% and 21.8% (Calvete et al., 2017; Contreras et al., 2020), whereas severe physical CPV ranges between 18.6% and 21.8%. Psychological CPV ranges between 45.5% and 92.7%, while severe psychological CPV ranges between 9.4% and 18.4% (Calvete et al., 2017; Contreras et al., 2020). Finally, regarding global CPV, recent studies indicate a prevalence rate of 60.3%, with severe CPV reaching 16.5% (Calvete et al., 2023).
These differences in prevalence estimates may be partially explained by the diversity of operational definitions used to conceptualize CPV, as well as by the psychometric characteristics of the instruments employed to assess it (Arias-Martínez et al., 2020). In this regard, some authors define severe CPV as behaviors occurring six or more times during the past year (Calvete et al., 2013; Calvete et al., 2023), whereas others establish the criterion as the presence of such behaviors on two or more occasions within the same period (Contreras et al., 2020). Overall, the increase observed in recent years reinforces the consideration of CPV as a relevant social problem, with
important social and economic consequences (Fundación Amigó, 2022; Ministerio de Hacienda y Función Pública, & Ministerio de Derechos Sociales y Agenda 2030, 2022).
Notably, CPV has been widely studied and linked to numerous risk factors at both the individual (e.g., substance use, gender) and family levels (e.g., parenting styles, parental discipline, exposure to violence at home) (Junco-Guerrero et al., 2025). Likewise, a substantial body of empirical evidence has focused on the study of CPV in offline contexts (Contreras-Sáez et al., 2022; Gallego et al., 2019), leaving the possibility that CPV may also occur in online contexts relatively unexplored (Rogers & Ashworth, 2024). However, the rapid expansion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has generated new forms of violent interaction that did not previously exist, giving rise to phenomena such as cyberbullying, grooming and online dating violence among others (Calvete et al., 2026; Caridade & Braga, 2020; De Santiesteban & Gámez-Guadix, 2017).
Within this context of increasing cyber-violence, recent studies provide initial evidence of a new dimension of CPV: Cyber Child-to-Parent Violence (Cyber-CPV) (Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Del Hoyo-Bilbao et al., 2026; Suárez-Relinque & Del Moral-Arroyo, 2023). Cyber-CPV has been defined as direct online aggressions (e.g., online insults, online threats, ignoring and blocking parental figures through ICTs, online control) as well as the online impersonation of parental figures or children (Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Fernández-González et al., 2026).
According to the prevalence data currently available, Cyber-CPV has only been examined in adolescent and parental samples (Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Fernández-Gonzalez et al., 2026). In this regard, a study conducted with community adolescent sample reported that 77.8% of adolescents engaged in Cyber-CPV at least once during the past year, with severe behaviors reported in 16.5% of cases (i.e., six or more
occasions during the past year) (Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Fernández-González et al., 2026). In both cases, girls reported higher levels of Cyber-CPV compared to boys, which is consistent with previous research on CPV showing that girls tend to engage more frequently in psychological CPV— which presents greater similarities with Cyber-CPV—whereas boys report higher levels of physical CPV (Ibabe & Bentler, 2016). With respect to the gender of parental figures, adolescents reported higher percentages of Cyber-CPV toward mothers (75.3%) than toward fathers (69.5%), in line with previous CPV literature (Calvete et al., 2023). Some studies suggest that this pattern may be explained by mothers’ greater involvement in child-rearing responsibilities within the family, which may increase their exposure to conflict with adolescents (Calvete et al., 2014; Larrucea- Iruretagoyena et al., 2023).
According to parents reports, 50% mothers and 43.4% fathers of the parents indicated having experienced Cyber-CPV at least once during the past year. Furthermore, in relation to severe Cyber-CPV, 7.2% mothers and 1.7% fathers of the parents reported having been exposed to Cyber-CPV on six or more occasions during the same period (Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Fernández-González et al., 2026).
Overall, these findings provide a first approximation of the magnitude of Cyber-CPV in Spain. However, these results should not be extrapolated to other cultural contexts or types of samples (e.g., clinical or justice-involved populations), as Cyber-CPV may vary depending on specific sociocultural characteristics and sample composition.
Taken together, the available evidence suggests that Cyber-CPV is a relatively frequent phenomenon in Spain, although it remains insufficiently explored. These findings highlight the need to expand research in this field and contribute to increasing the visibility of its magnitude, which may support the development of specific prevention, intervention, and educational strategies within family and adolescent contexts.
Thank you very much to Sara, Joana, Ainara and Liria for their contribution, and if you are interested in learning more about research is Spain, do check out their references below.
References
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