Domestic Property Violence: A Distinct and Damaging Form of Parent Abuse

This article reports on the qualitative phase of mixed method research conducted in a medium-size city in New Zealand, which examined 14 parents’ experiences of child- and youth-perpetrated domestic property violence (DPV). The research used semi-structured interviews and interpretative phenomenological analysis, enabling parents’ perceptions of the causes and impacts of this form of family violence to be explored in depth. Three superordinate themes were identified in the analysis: damage done, the various impacts of DPV; staying safe and sane; and making sense of DPV, parents’ perspectives. An ecological meaning-making theory emerged from the data and provided an overarching interpretative framework for considering the themes both separately and together. The findings showed that DPV is a distinct form of parent abuse and one that can have serious impacts of a financial, emotional, and relational nature. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed along with ideas for further research into this problem.