Assessment of personality characteristics in parents of children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder compared to control group

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate professor of children and adolescents psychiatry, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Siences, Mashhad, Iran

2 Assistant professor of clinical psychology, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Siences, Mashhad, Iran

3 Resident of psychiatry, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Siences, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: According to the researchers' vewpoint, parents' personality traits and their behavior can affect the development of the psychiatric disorders such as anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorders among children and adolescents. The present study assessed the personality types and characteristics in parents of children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) compared to control group.
Materials and Methods: The statistical community of this cross-sectional descriptive study included all parents of children and adolescents with OCD who referred to the children and adolescents psychiatric clinic of Ibn-e-Sina hospital of Mashhad during March-September 2013. Parents of 30 children and adolescents (6-18 years) with OCD based on DSM-IV- TR criteria and confirmation of diagnoasis by two child psychiatrists were selected (n=60) via available sampling method. Parents of 30 matched healthy children from schools in Mashhad were selected as the control group. All participants fulfilled the Myers-Briggs personality type questionnaire. Data analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi square test and SPSS software version 15.
Results: Findinigs showed that two groups of parents were not different in terms of extraversion-introversion, sensing- intuition and thinking-feeling personality dimensions (P>0.05). There was only a significant difference between two groups in judgment-perception dimension (P=0.026).
Conclusion: It seems that there are not significant relations between almost of parents' personality traits and prevalence or incidence of obsessive-compulsive disorders in children and adolescents.

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