Living in the red zone: the experience of child-to-mother violence Michel Edenborough*, Debra Jackson†, Judy Mannix‡ and Lesley M. Wilkes§,†† *Senior Research Officer, †Professor of Nursing, ‡Senior Lecturer, §Dean of Research Studies, Professor of Nursing, Family and Community Health Research Group, University of Western Sydney, and ††Sydney West Area Health Service, New South Wales, Australia ABSTRACT Child-to-mother violence is an area of family violence that has received limited attention over the past 20 years but is a problem for many families. It is poorly understood in the community and this lack of understanding creates a basis for families and service providers to minimize the abused mothers’ experience.This paper is drawn from a larger study that aimed to explore child-to-mother violence in a high-risk geographical area and describes a qualitative theme devel- oped from 185 participating women’s narratives, ‘Living in the red zone’: the experience of child-to-mother violence. The red zone refers to danger and was an element throughout women’s narratives. It is clear from the reflections of these women that child-to-mother vio- lence is a significant and complex issue. Mothers were predominantly struggling in silence with their experiences of a child or children whose behaviour was threatening and/or abusive. Their experiences were most often minimized and/or devalued by family and commu- nity members, which may prevent affected women from seeking support. Mothers generally had limited concepts of the possibilities open to them to improve their situation, or limited access to appro- priate and empathic individuals or services. Correspondence: Michel Edenborough, Family and Community Health Research Group, College of Health & Science, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia E-mail: m.edenborough@uws.edu.au Keywords: adolescence, child-to-mother violence, family violence, mothering, women’s health Accepted for publication: June 2008 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Understandings of family violence have broadened over the past 30 years and include violence directed towards mothers from their child or children (Jackson 2003; Stewart et al. 2004, 2006). Violence within families is a significant issue that permeates the expe- rience of many women’s lives. However, this form of family violence remains poorly understood with very little research or discussion focused on child-to- mother violence in the literature. Harbin & Madden (1979) first described battered parents syndrome as a discrete form of family violence in the late 1970s and a number of researchers explored the issue in the early 1980s and 1990s using clinical samples or population data not specifically designed to measure this form of family pathology (see Cornell & Gelles 1982; Kratcoski 1982, 1985; Peek et al. 1985; Charles 1986; Evans & Warren-Sohlberg 1988; Agnew & Huguley 1989; Paulson et al. 1990). Research interest to date has been on family dynamics, finding theories to explain the phenomenon, and identifying traits and circumstances related to child-to-mother violence before a lapse in interest occurred in the late 1990s and 2000s. This lapse in attention to child-to-mother violence may be the result of a perception that it is not an extensive or problematic aspect of family violence (Cornell & Gelles 1982; Peek et al. 1985). In particu- lar, it is a taboo subject for families, perhaps because mother blaming permeates the dominant culture (Jackson & Mannix 2004; Koniak-Griffin et al. 2006). Mothers assume blame for their own victimization or fearing others will blame them and therefore keep doi:10.1111/j.1365-2206.2008.00576.x 464 Child and Family Social Work 2008, 13, pp 464–473 © 2008 The Authors Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd