Shockingly, 261 calls taken by the helpline last year related to violence and aggression, including incidents of physical violence towards parents, siblings and other family members.

Verbally aggressive behaviour also featured frequently among the phone calls, as well as youngsters inflicting damage to the family home.

ParentLine Scotland said their employees handled calls from many anxious parents who were desperate for support to deal with the problem.

Tom Roberts, of CHILDREN 1ST, which runs a family support project in Dundee, said, “Parents calling our ParentLine service tell us about physical aggression towards themselves, siblings and other family members, as well as verbal aggression. In these calls, parents often describe feeling ‘out of control’ and ‘at the end of their tether’.”

Unfortunately there are little, if any resources available to parents in this situation, according to Mr Roberts.

“Often they have tried to get help from police and/or social work and, due to the age of the young person, have been unsuccessful. Often the only option they see is to ‘throw them out’, although this is not what they want.”

He added that ParentLine Scotland, which was launched in 1999, works to help parents by looking at what the young person may be going through and what support is available to them.

Kim McRae, manager of the Dundee-based 101 project with One Parent Families Scotland, said a young person’s aggressive behaviour can often signify serious underlying issues.

“A fair amount of the referrals we get are from parents who are worried or anxious about their child's behaviour or the management of their child's behaviour,” she said.

“A lot of the families we work with are at an earlier age, rather than teenagers, but areas of behaviour can be the same at any age and can just present itself in different ways.

“We would advise parents to look at the underlying reasons for that type of behaviour, as there can be lots and lots of reasons they are acting that way,” she said.

“We work with each family on an individual basis because everyone is different but often difficult behaviour can stem from underlying issues where a child is upset.”

Ms McRae said a major change in a young person’s life, such as moving house, their parents’ separation or a family bereavement, can often lead to difficult behaviour.

“One of the most important things is consistency,” she said.

“Nobody copes with change well, but a major change can be especially upsetting for children, and if they do not feel they can talk about it they will instead show their feelings through their behaviour.”

Ms McRae said it was vital that struggling parents asked for the support they needed.

“We are more than happy for parents to contact us for help and if we are not the right organisation to provide help, we will get them in touch with the right people,” she said.

“The hard question is asking for help. People think they should be able to cope with this, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with asking for a bit of help in fact there is a real strength in asking for help.”

For further information contact the 101 project on 01382 501 972 or visit www.opfs.org.uk/. ParentLine Scotland can be reached on 0808 800 2222.