https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520915553 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 1–23 © The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0886260520915553 journals.sagepub.com/home/jiv Original Research A Social-Cognitive Investigation of Young Adults Who Abuse Their Parents Melanie Simmons, DPsych, 1,2 Troy E. McEwan, DPsych, 1,2 and Rosemary Purcell, PhD 3,4 Abstract Within the past decade, there has been an increase in research focusing on young people who abuse their parents. However, most research has narrowly focused on adolescent children, neglecting to investigate the nature, pattern, and factors related to child-to-parent abuse perpetrated by young adults. This article integrated two complementary social-cognitive theories of aggression to explore factors associated with perpetration of child-to-parent abuse among university students (N = 435, aged 18–25 years). Participants completed the Abusive Behavior by Children–Indices, a self-report measure that was designed to differentiate abusive and normative child-to-parent behavior. The results highlight that abuse is not limited to adolescent children, as one in seven young adults were categorized as abusive toward a parent over the previous 12 months. Sons were more likely than daughters to report abusing their parents. Specifically, sons disclosed greater rates of father abuse than daughters, but similar rates of mother abuse. Hierarchical logistic regression found that exposure to marital violence, parent-to-child 1 Swinburne University of Technology, Alphington, VIC, Australia 2 Forensicare, Clifton Hill, VIC, Australia 3 Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, Parkville, VIC, Australia 4 The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia Corresponding Author: Melanie Simmons, Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Level 1/ 582 Heidelberg Rd, Alphington, VIC 3078, Australia. Email: msimmons@swin.edu.au 915553JIV XX X 10.1177/0886260520915553Journal of Interpersonal ViolenceSimmons et al. research-article 2020