The analyzed sample includes 469 freshman college students (182 Americans and 287 Colombians, 58 % women and 42 % men). Most of students (92 % Colombians and 50 % Americans, ages 18-24 years) at the age of 10 were living with their biological parents (94 % mother and 81 % father). The sample includes respondents who were single (75 % of Colombian and 40 % Americans), married or living together with their intimate partner (5 % Colombians and 20 % Americans), and had children (7 % Colombians and 36 % Americans). Educational attainment of the respondents’ mother includes those who completed high school or less (56 % Colombians, 32 % Americans), attended some college or completed a 4-year college degree (27 % Colombians and 59 % Americans), and attended graduate school (17 % Colombians, 9 % Americans). Regarding race/ethnic identity, 25 % of American freshman students identified themselves as Hispanic/Latino.

In 2011, researchers from a variety of fields, universities, and countries were authorized, through a consortium, to use the International Parenting Study (IPS) questionnaire (an extended version of the Dimensions of Discipline Inventory) to survey college students around the world (Morawska, Filus, Haslam, & Sanders, 2019). This effort facilitated the analysis of individuals’ behavior toward their parents regardless of factors as economic development, culture, and religious or political beliefs. The sampling method was based on availability; freshman students who were attending either orientation or the first-day class session of fall 2011 were surveyed at six universities: five Colombian and one American. All but two were public universities, where the majority (86 %) of the respondents attended to. Classes or orientation sessions in which questionnaires were distributed were randomly selected in each participating university. All individuals’ participation was voluntary and anonymous.

The analysis focuses on the respondents’ memories regarding the use of violence in their childhood households when they were around 10 years old. The questions inquired separately about the respondents’ relationships with each parent. However, the focus of this study is the mother-child relationship, maternal parenting, and disciplinary practices and the children’s abusive behavior toward their mother. The father’s behavior is analyzed only in terms of his relationship with the respondent’s mother. The respondents’ personality traits as they are related to their childhood experiences are also analyzed.

This dimension measures a child’s verbal abuse toward their mother at 10 years of age, as a) shouting at; b) insulting; or c) threatening the mother. The answers were codified into dichotomous (Y/N) categories.

This dimension measures a child’s physical violence toward their mother at 10 years of age, whether they ever a) slapped or punched; b) hit; or c) kicked or bit their mother. The answers were codified into dichotomous (Y/N) categories.

This dimension measures the use of corporal punishment by the respondent’s mother to discipline them at age 10, whether she ever used a) a shake or grab; b) a spank, slap, smack, or swat; or c) a paddle, hairbrush, belt, or another object. The responses were codified into dichotomous (Y/N) categories.

This is a measurement of maternal severe physical abuse toward her child when they were 10 years old. Respondents were asked if their mother ever a) beat you up, that is, hit you over and over as hard as she could; b) hit you on some part of the body besides the bottom with something like a belt, hairbrush, stick, or some other hard object; or c) throw or knock you down. The answers were codified into dichotomous (Y/N) categories.

This dimension measures the use of a combination of deprivation of privileges and/or the use of a penalty task assigned by the respondent’s mother to make her child behave or comply with her expectations when her child was 10 years old. Respondents were asked if their mother did any of the following: a) take away your allowance due to misbehavior; b) withhold your toys or other privileges due to misbehavior; c) give you extra chores as a consequence of misbehavior; or d) make you do something to make up for misbehaving. The responses were codified into dichotomous (Y/N) categories.

This dimension measures a mother’s psychological aggression toward her child when they misbehaved when they were 10 years old. The respondents were asked if their mother did any of the following: a) shout or yell at you; b) make you feel ashamed or guilty; c) hold back affection by acting cold or not giving hugs or kisses; d) call you lazy, sloppy, or thoughtless. The answers were codified into dichotomous (Y/N) categories.

This dimension measures a mother’s attempt to change her children’s behavior at 10 years by rewarding their good behavior. Respondents were asked if their mother did any of the following: a) praise you for behaving well; b) give you money to stop bad behavior; or c) check on you to be sure that you were doing a good job. The answers were codified into dichotomous (Y/N) categories.

This dimension measures the respondents’ witnessing, at age 10, their mother’s abuse of her male partner. The respondents were asked if their mother did any of the following to her male partner: a) insult, swear, shout, or yell; b) push, shove, or slap; c) punch, kick, or beat up. The answers were codified into dichotomous (Y/N) categories.

This dimension measures the respondents’ witnessing, at age 10, the abuse of their mother by her husband or male partner. The respondents were asked if their father or stepfather did any of the following to their mother: a) insult, swear, shout, or yell; b) push, shove, or slap; c) punch, kick, or beat up. The answers were codified into dichotomous (Y/N) categories.

This dimension measures the mother’s negative responses to her child’s misbehavior at age 10. Respondents were asked if their mother did any of the following when they misbehaved: a) get very angry; b) act on the spur of the moment; or c) seem to lose it. Three possible answers were codified: 1) never or almost never; 2) sometimes; 3) usually or always.

This dimension measures the mother’s positive reaction toward her child’s misbehavior at age 10. Respondents were asked if, regardless of their mother’s discipline, they still: a) felt like she loved you; and b) felt encouraged and supported. They were also asked did she still c) check how your day went at school; or d) play and have fun with you. Three possible answers were codified: 1) never or almost never; 2) sometimes; 3) usually or always.

This dimension measures the respondent’s adult negative personality traits as they are correlated to their mother’s parenting. Respondents were asked if during the two previous weeks, they a) desired to beat, injure, or harm someone; b) felt easily annoyed or irritated; c) experienced spells of terror or panic; or d) had temper outbursts they could not control. This variable was codified using three categories: 1) no or very little; 2) moderately; and 3) quite a bit or extremely.

This dimension measures the respondent’s adult positive personality traits as they are correlated to their mother’s parenting. Respondents were asked if during the two previous weeks they a) felt calm and relaxed; and b) had been active and vigorous. This variable was codified using three categories: 1) no or very little; 2) moderately; and 3) quite a bit or extremely.

First, for most respondents, their mother looked after them more often than their father did. Sixty-one percent of them said their mother was more responsible for their discipline at age 10 than their father was, while 28 % said their parents shared responsibility equally. When asked about the effects of the use of physical violence to discipline them, 35 % said the effect of their mother’s discipline was positive or very positive, and 21 % said that the effect was negative or very negative. Twenty-seven percent said their mother’s discipline was hard or too harsh, 56 % said it was fair, and 17 % it was easy or too easy.

Second, the prevalence of abusive maternal disciplinary practices and differences by gender and nationality were calculated (see Table 1 for the prevalence of maternal abusive disciplinary practices and statistically significant differences by gender and nationality). Colombian mothers use corporal punishment to discipline their children more often than their American counterparts. More males suffered corporal punishment and severe child physical abuse than their female counterparts: Colombians: 24 % and 17 %, respectively; Americans: 7 % and 8 %. In addition, Colombian mothers psychologically abused their children more often than their Americans counterparts: 47 % of Colombian males and 37 % of Colombian females, compared to 23 % of American males and 31 % of American females. Colombian children verbally abused their mothers more often than their American counterparts: 32 % of Colombian males and 26 % of Colombian females, compared to 22 % of American males and 20 % of American females, but no differences were found regarding the perpetrator’s gender when physical aggression was directed toward parents (see table 1), which is consistent with previous studies (Calvete et al., 2013).

Table 1

Corporal punishment	% Male	% Female
Mother shook or grabbed you to get your attention
American freshman students	14.90 %	12.80 %
Colombian freshman students	37.00 %	26.60 %
t-test (nationality)	t=5.767, p=0.000
t-test (child’s gender)	t=4.076, p=0.000
Mother spanked, slapped, smacked, or swatted you
American freshman students	38.30 %	28.60 %
Colombian freshman students	40.90 %	33.30 %
t-test (child’s gender)	t=2.712, p=0.007
Mother used a paddle, hairbrush, belt, or other object to discipline you
American freshman students	29.80 %	18.90 %
Colombian freshman students	31.80 %	18.30 %
t-test (child’s gender)	t=2.627, p=0.009
Severe physical abuse
Mother beat you up/hit you over and over as hard as she could
American freshman students	4.30 %	2.50 %
Colombian freshman students	25.90 %	16.00 %
t-test (nationality)	t= −6.275, p=0.000
t-test (child’s gender)	t= 3.386, p=0.001
Mother hit you on some part of the body besides the bottom with something like a belt, hairbrush, stick, or some other hard object
American freshman students	12.80 %	16.70 %
Colombian freshman students	34.00 %	24.20 %
t-test (nationality)	t= −3.321, p=0.001
t-test (child’s gender)	t= 2.625, p=0.009
Mother threw or knocked you down
American freshman students	4.30%	5.80%
Colombian freshman students	12.80%	10.60%
t-test (nationality)	t= −2.062, p=0.040
Psychological aggression
Mother shouted or yelled at you
American freshman students	46.80%	57.50%
Colombian freshman students	70.70%	56.20%
Mother tried to make you feel ashamed or guilty
American freshman students	19.10%	24.40%
Colombian freshman students	37.80%	27.50%
t-test (nationality)	t= −2.939, p=0.003
Mother held back affection by acting cold or not giving hugs or kisses
American freshman students	8.70%	18.30%
Colombian freshman students	30.80%	27.10%
t-test (nationality)	t= −3.767, p=0.000
When you behaved badly, your mother told you that you were lazy, sloppy, thoughtless, etc
American freshman students	17.40%	25.00%
Colombian freshman students	49.30%	38.90%
t-test (nationality)	t= −5.829, p=0.000

Note 1: t-test results shown only for statistically significant differences

First, the hypothesized theoretical model follows the learning theory rationale (see figure 1); children’s behavior is learned from their parents (Bandura, 1978; O’Hara et al., 2017; Sutherland, 1947), and therefore, the correlation between maternal parenting and child-to-mother abuse is causal, as is the correlation between childhood experience and adulthood personality traits. Maternal child abuse and parental domestic violence are correlated and co-occurred as reported by the participants and is consistent with previous research (Herrenkohl, Sousa, Tajima, Herrenkohl, & Moylan, 2008).

Second, the ESEM analysis resulted in 12 dimensions correlated to the two dimensions of child-to-mother abuse (child-to-mother verbal abuse and child-to-mother violence). Six aspects of family conflict were uncovered: a) non-abusive maternal disciplinary tactics–deprivation/penalty (3 items), rewards (4 items); b) abusive maternal disciplinary tactics–corporal punishment (3 items), psychological aggression (3 items), and severe physical child abuse (3 items); c) parental domestic violence-against the father (3 items) and against the mother (3 items); and d) mother’s reaction toward her child’s misbehavior-mother’s irritability (3 items) and kindness (4 items), as well as two dimensions of child’s personality traits-child’s negative traits (4 items) and child’s positive traits (2 items). A two-indicator factor is fine when the sample is greater than 100 (Kelloway, 2015).

The resulting model fit the data well, as is shown by the indicators of good fit-CFI=0.956, TLI=0.950, Rmsea=0.028, CI (.025, 0.032), Chi-Square=1431.237 (df=1034, p=0.0000)-and the strength of the factor loadings (see table 2). There are also strong and statistically significant correlations between the factors (see table 3). On one hand, child-to-mother verbal abuse and physical violence are highly correlated (.80). Child-to-mother verbal abuse was predicted by corporal punishment (.30), penalty/deprivation (.26), psychological aggression (.50), domestic violence against the mother (.25), the mother’s irritability (.32), and child severe physical abuse (.31). It was also directly correlated to child’s negative traits (.27) and inversely correlated to child’s positive traits (−.28). On the other hand, child-to-mother

Figure 1 Source: own elaboration

Physical violence was predicted by corporal punishment (.49), psychological aggression (.58), and child severe physical abuse (.53), and correlated to the mother’s irritability (.41) and child’s negative traits (.42). It was inversely correlated to the mother’s kindness (−.38) and child’s positive traits (−.35).

Table 2

Factors/dimensions	Factor
Corporal punishment
My mother shook or grabbed me to get my attention	0.876
My mother spanked, slapped, smacked, or swatted me	0.852
My mother used a paddle, hairbrush, belt, or other object to punish me	0.794
Severe physical abuse
My mother beat me up; hit me over and over as hard as she could	0.830
My mother hit me on some part of the body besides the bottom with something like a belt, hairbrush, stick, or some other object	0.860
My mother threw or knocked me down	0.840
Deprivation/Penalty
My mother took away my allowance because of my misbehavior	0.731
My mother withheld my toys or other privileges until I did what she wanted me to do	0.897
My mother gave me extra chores as a consequence of my misbehavior	0.676
My mother made me do something to make up for my misbehavior	0.586
Psychological aggression
My mother shouted or yelled at me	0.815
My mother tried to make me feel ashamed or guilty	0.648
My mother held back affection by acting cold or not giving me hugs or kisses	0.583
When I behaved badly, my mother told me that I was lazy, sloppy, thoughtless, etc	0.743
Rewards
My mother praised me for avoiding bad behavior or for behaving well	0.811
My mother gave me money or other things for avoiding bad behavior or for behaving well	0.596
My mother checked on me so that she could tell me that I was doing a good job	0.896
Mother’s irritability
My mother tended to act on the spur of the moment when I misbehaved	0.678
My mother got very angry when I misbehaved	0.756
My mother seemed to “lose it” when I misbehaved	0.967
Mother’s kindness
When my mother corrected misbehavior, I knew she still loved me	0.750
When my mother corrected misbehavior, I still felt encouraged and supported	0.816
My mother asked me about my day in school	0.688
My mother played games or did other fun things with me	0.749
Domestic violence against the father/mother’s male partner
My mother insulted, swore, shouted, or yelled at my father	0.912
My mother pushed, shoved, or slapped my father	0.960
My mother punched, kicked, or beat up my father	0.938
My mother destroyed something belonging to my father or threatened to hit him	0.889
Domestic violence against the mother
My father insulted, swore, shouted, or yelled at my mother	0.990
My father pushed, shoved, or slapped my mother	0.873
My father punched, kicked, or beat up my mother	0.933
My father destroyed something belonging to my mother or threatened to hit her	0.829
Child’s negative personality traits
I have urges to beat, injure, or harm someone else	0.636
I feel easily annoyed or irritated	0.772
I have spells of terror or panic	0.741
I have temper outbursts that I cannot control	0.899
Child’s positive personality traits
I feel calm and relaxed	0.996
I feel active and vigorous	0.528

Note: All factor loadings at p=0.000

The use of deprivation of privileges or the imposition of penalty tasks to make children comply with the mother’s expected behavior was highly correlated to rewards (.59). It was also correlated to abusive disciplinary practices, that is, corporal punishment (.48), severe child physical abuse (.37), and psychological aggression (.52).

Corporal punishment was correlated to the use of psychological aggression (.80) and severe physical child abuse (.88). It was also correlated to the mother’s abusive behavior toward the father/male partner (.29) and the father’s abusive behavior toward the mother (.30). The mother’s psychological aggression toward her child was correlated to the mother’s abusive behavior toward the father/male partner (.33) and the father’s abusive behavior toward the mother (.39), as well as her severe physical abuse of her child (.85; see Table 3).

Parental domestic violence. Violence against the father and against the mother were highly correlated (.98). Both domestic violence against the father and against the mother were correlated to the mother’s irritability due to her child’s misbehavior (.27 and .30, respectively) and severe physical child abuse (.40 and .42, respectively), and inversely correlated to the mother’s kindness (−.35 and −.33, respectively).

Mother’s reaction to her child’s misbehavior. Irritability was correlated to corporal punishment (.65), psychological aggression (.75), severe physical child abuse (.71), and deprivation of privileges or the imposition of penalty tasks (.38). It was inversely correlated to mother’s kindness (−.58). Mother’s kindness was correlated to rewards (.62) and the use of deprivation or imposition of penalty tasks (.59), and inversely correlated to corporal punishment (−.40), severe physical child abuse (−.51), and psychological aggression (−.55).

Fourth, exposure to violence in childhood was correlated to the child’s personality traits in adulthood. A child’s positive personality traits were inversely correlated to corporal punishment (−.35) and to a child’s negative personality traits (−.61). A child’s negative personality traits were correlated to the mother’s psychological aggression toward her child (.44) and severe child physical abuse (.29), while inversely correlated to mother’s kindness (−.31).

Table 3

	Outcomes		Predictors									Correlates
Mother’s and Child’s Behavior	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	F6	F7	F8	F9	F10	F11	F12	F13
F1 Child-to-Mother Verbal Abuse			0.3		0.26	0.5	0.28*
F2 Child-to-Mother Physical Violence	0.8		0.49			0.58
F3 Corporal punishment													-0.18*
F4 Sever physical abuse	0.31	0.53	0.89		0.37	0.85		0.41	0.42	0.7	-0.51
F5 Deprivation/Penalty			0.48
F6 Psychological aggression			0.80		0.52
F7 Rewards					0.59	.27*
F8 DV against the father/mother’s male partner			0.29			0.33
F9 DV against the mother	0.25		0.30			0.39		0.98
F10 Mother’s irritability	0.32	0.41	0.65		0.38	0.75		0.27	0.3
F11 Mother’s kindness		-0.38	-0.40			-0.55	0.62	-0.35	-0.33	-0.58
F12 Child’s negative personality traits	0.27	0.42		0.29		0.44			.18*	.21*	-0.31
F13 Child’s positive personality traits	-0.28	-0.35		-.20*		-0.35		-0.26	-0.3		0.23	-0.61

Note 1. Statistically significant at p=0.000