The objective of this study was to analyze the relationship of the exposition to violence and justification of violence with child-to-parent violence (CPV) towards father and mother.

Sample comprised 748 high school students (413 male and 335 female), between 13 and 20 years old. Child-to-Parent Aggression Questionnaire (CPAQ) was employed to assess CPV. Exposition to violence in high school, home, street and television was assessed using the Violence Exposure Questionnaire (VEQ), whereas expostion to violence in videogames was assessed through a questionnaire prepared by the authors. Justification of violence was analyzed using the Justification of Violence subscale of the Irrational Beliefs Scale for Adolescents (ECIA).

Regarding violence towards mother, results showed that, in the case of female participants, there was a significant relationship with exposition to violence at street, home and an inverse relationship with videogames, as well as with violence justification, whereas in the case of male participants there was a significant relationship with the same variables except violence in videogames. Converserly, with regard to violence towards father, there was a significant relationships with violence at home and violence justification in the case of females, as well as with violence at home and street and violence justification in the case of male participants.

With regard to the role of the type of family, in the case of non-divorced families there was a significant relationship with exposition to violence at street, home and an inverse relationship with videogames, as well as with violence justification, whereas in the case of divorced families the only significant variable was violence justification. Finally, with regard to violence towards father, there was a significant relationships with violence at high school, street and home, along with violence justificacion in the case of non-divorced families, as well as violence at street and violence justification in the case of divorced families.

The present study shows the role of participant sex and family status the relationship of exposition to violence and violence justification with CPV violence. These findings indicate the importance of taking into account those variables in preventing violence towards parents.