Girls becoming more abusive and aggressive, say parents

PARENTS ARE growing increasingly concerned about the abusive and aggressive behaviour of their daughters, an analysis of calls to a parenting helpline has shown.

Last year, 20 per cent of the calls received by Parentline concerned abuse, and, where the abuse of a parent was involved, girls were the most culpable. In 52 per cent of those calls, the abuse was coming from a daughter - a rise of 6 per cent on 2006 figures.

The second most common call from parents concerned anger and aggression and again the behaviour of girls gave rise to the most calls. Some 51 per cent of calls about aggressive behaviour concerned girls.

Parentline chief executive Rita O'Reilly said problems with abusive children were not likely to be discussed with neighbours or friends, particularly if a daughter was being violent or aggressive. It was much easier to call a confidential helpline.

Anti-social behaviour would typically be associated with male teenagers, but last year girls accounted for 57 per cent of those calls.

Ms O'Reilly said troubled teenagers still accounted for the greatest number of calls to Parentline.

Last year, problems with children aged 13-18 accounted for more than 60 per cent of calls with 16-year-olds accounting for most calls.

The helpline received more than 6,000 calls last year from parents, grandparents, guardians, minders, concerned friends and siblings, health workers and doctors.

Volunteers have noticed an increasing number of calls about problems caused by marriage breakdown. Calls from people parenting alone rose from 28 per cent in 2006 to 34 per cent last year.

She said that marriage breakdown may not be given as the reason for the call, but it often emerged as the reason behind a problem such as challenging behaviour, unhappiness in school or bullying.

"Around Christmas last year, a remarkable number of calls we got were about issues such as custody, or childcare arrangements for the Christmas holidays."

In calls about child abuse, most calls - 41 per cent - were about verbal abuse, followed by emotional abuse. Concerns about sexual abuse accounted for 8 per cent of child abuse calls.

Ms O'Reilly also noted the continuing increase in the number of calls from men to the helpline, now accounting for more than 14 per cent of calls. "Men are more involved in parenting now. They are not asking how they can assist their wife with her parenting, they want to know what they can do."

Today marks the start of National Parents Week organised by Parentline and Nurofen. "The vast majority of parents are doing a really good job but like all jobs, they occasionally need support," Ms O'Reilly said.

Parentline 1890-927277 is open from 10am-9pm, Monday to Thursday, and from 10am-4pm on Fridays.