Italian parents are so scared of their children that they let them get away with murder, a report said Thursday.
''It's a full-blown role reversal, marked by the fear of being verbally or physically assaulted,'' said a report from the Eurispes think tank.
''Instead of scolding their kids or correcting their behaviour, a growing number of adults opts to give in to their demands,'' said the report, which highlighted a rise in casual sex, dangerous drinking and anti-social behaviour by adolescents as young as 11.
Binge-drinking is on the rise, the report said, and young disco-goers now traditionally kick off their night out with a slug of neat spirits called a ''shotino''.
Deaths from drunk driving are also up, with some 2,500 young people now losing their lives on Italy's roads each year.
Another new form of yobbish behaviour is on the rise, involving cellphones and the Internet: sending round abusive or humiliating SMS messages or anonymously posting phone-cam pics and videos, usually of a sexual or degrading nature.
The report said parents appeared ''powerless'' in the face of the new louts.
Eurispes coined a term for the fear parents feel in the face of their offsprings' actions: ''paedophobia''.
