Adolescent emotional abuse according to the mother's report: The interactive role of adolescent's and mother's mental health problems

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Department of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran.

10.22038/jfmh.2023.23733

Abstract

Introduction: Regarding the factors in the child and parent that increase the likelihood of emotional abuse, this study aimed to compare the prevalence and rate of emotional abuse in adolescents concerning the interaction of maternal and adolescent's mental health problems.
 
Materials and Methods: This causal-comparative study was conducted in the academic year of 2018-2019. Through the cluster sampling, 402 mothers and children were selected from the cities of Tehran, Hamadan, and Boldaji-Iran. We used the Emotional Abuse Questionnaire (Parenting Form), Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), and Aachenbach's Self-Reporting Questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, two-way ANOVA, independent t-test, and SPSS version 20.
 
Results: The prevalence of severe emotional abuse in adolescents was 11.7%. In healthy adolescents with healthy mothers, this prevalence was 3.7%, while it increased to 21.3% if the mother had mental health problems. In adolescents with mental health problems who had healthy mothers, this prevalence was 13.0%, but it was up to 50.0% in adolescents with mental health problems who had mothers with mental health problems. Adolescents with mental health problems are more severely emotionally abused than adolescents without these problems by mothers with and without mental health problems (P< 0.01). Also, mothers with mental health problems are more emotionally abused adolescents with and without problems than mothers without mental health problems (P< 0.01).
 
Conclusion: The prevalence of emotional abuse in adolescents is high, and the presence of mental health problems in mothers and adolescents increase the level of emotional abuse in adolescents.

Keywords

References

  1. Abdollahzadeh Rafi M, Alizadeh H. [Emotional abuse: Definition, prevalence, consequences and interventions]. Exceptional education 2019; 2: 59-74. (Persian)
  2. Robinson Y. Child abuse: Types and emergent issues. In: Bryce I, Robinson Y, Petherick W. (editors). Child abuse Neglect: Forensic issues in evidence, impact and management. London: Academic Press; 2019: 3-22.
  3. Abdollahzdeh Rafi M, Hassanzade M, Nesayan A, Assadi Gandomani R. [Prevalence of behavioral disorders in students and prediction of that based on emotional abuse]. Journal of research in psychological health 2016; 10(2): 28-41. (Persian)
  4. Ashraf F, Niazi F, Masood A, Malik S. Gender comparisons and prevalence of child abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in adolescents. J Pak Med Assoc 2019; 69(3): 320-24.
  5. Cuartas J, McCoy DC, Rey-Guerra C, Britto PR, Beatriz E, Salhi C. Early childhood exposure to non-violent discipline and physical and psychological aggression in low-and middle-income countries: National, regional, and global prevalence estimates. Child Abuse Negl 2019; 92: 93-105.
  6. American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. Psychosocial evaluation of suspected psychological maltreatment in children and adolescents: Practice guidelines. American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children; 2017.
  7. Negriff S, Gordis EB, Susman EJ, Kim K, Peckins MK, Schneiderman JU, et al. The Young Adolescent Project: A longitudinal study of the effects of maltreatment on adolescent development. Dev Psychopathol 2020; 32(4): 1440-59.
  8. Lee YA. The influence of child abuse experience on school adjustment: Serial multiple mediation effects of aggression, peer relations, depression, and self-esteem. Korean journal of child studies 2019; 40(2): 25-37.
  9. Baldwin JR, Wang B, Karwatowska L, Schoeler T, Tsaligopoulou A, Munafò MR, et al. Childhood maltreatment and mental health problems: A systematic review and meta-analysis of quasi-experimental studies. Am J Psychiatry 2023; 180(2): 117-26.
  10. Schneiderman JU, Davis JP, Negriff S. Associations between psychosocial functioning and physical health in youth with maltreatment experiences. Child Youth Serv Rev 2021; 127: 106080.
  11. Mwakanyamale AA, Yizhen Y. Psychological maltreatment and its relationship with self-esteem and psychological stress among adolescents in Tanzania: A community based, cross-sectional study. BMC Psychiatry 2019; 19: 1-9.
  12. Dos Santos TM, Pitangui AC, Bendo CB, Paiva SM, Cardoso MD, de Melo JP, et al. Factors associated with the type of violence perpetrated against adolescents in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. Child Abuse Negl 2017; 67: 216-27.
  13. Li S, Zhao F, Yu G. Childhood emotional abuse and depression among adolescents: Roles of deviant peer affiliation and gender. J Interpers Violence 2022; 37(1-2): 30-50.
  14. Baker AJ, Festinger T. Emotional abuse and emotional neglect subscales of the CTQ: Associations with each other, other measures of psychological maltreatment, and demographic variables. Child Youth Serv Rev 2011; 33(11): 2297-302.
  15. Gokten ES, Duman NS, Soylu N, Uzun ME. Effects of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder on child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse Negl 2016; 62: 1-9.
  16. Hadianfard H. Child abuse in group of children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder in comparison with normal children. Int J Community Based Nurs Midwifery 2014; 2(2): 77.
  17. Craig SG, Bondi BC, O’Donnell KA, Pepler DJ, Weiss MD. ADHD and exposure to maltreatment in children and youth: A systematic review of the past 10 years. Curr Psychiatry Rep 2020; 22: 1-4.
  18. Langevin R, Marshall C, Wallace A, Gagné ME, Kingsland E, Temcheff C. Disentangling the associations between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and child sexual abuse: A systematic review. TraumaViolence Abuse 2023; 24(2): 369-89.
  19. Stern A, Agnew-Blais J, Danese A, Fisher HL, Jaffee SR, Matthews T, et al. Associations between abuse/neglect and ADHD from childhood to young adulthood: A prospective nationally-representative twin study. Child Abuse Negl 2018; 81: 274-85.
  20. Man KK, Gao L, Lau WC, Fan M, Coghill PD, Chan EW, et al. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, physical abuse and methylphenidate treatment in children. Nat Ment Health 2023; 1: 66-75.
  21. Nemmezi Karaca S, Uzun Cicek A, Mercan Isik C, Kanak M, Demirel G. Evidence of the relationship between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and emotional abuse in a sample of preschool children. Child Health Care 2022; 51(3): 336-53.
  22. Hamed RA, Hammouda SM, El Sehmawy AA. Child abuse in a sample of children and adolescents with externalizing disorders. Al-Azhar Assiut medical journal 2020; 18(3): 266-71.
  23. Legano LA, Desch LW, Messner SA, Idzerda S, Flaherty EG, COUNCIL ON CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT, et al. Maltreatment of children with disabilities. Pediatrics 2021; 147(5): e2021050920.
  24. Adeyele VO, Makinde VI. Mental health disorder as a risk factor for domestic violence experienced by school children. Ment Health Rev 2023; 24: 1-8.
  25. Wu Q, Xu Y. Parenting stress and risk of child maltreatment during the COVID-19 pandemic: A family stress theory-informed perspective. Dev Child Welf 2020; 2(3): 180-96.
  26. Rodriguez CM, Gonzalez S, Foiles AR. Maternal ADHD symptoms and physical child abuse risk: A multi-informant study. J Child Fam Stud 2018; 27: 4015-24.
  27. Choi KW, Houts R, Arseneault L, Pariante C, Sikkema KJ, Moffitt TE. Maternal depression in the intergenerational transmission of childhood maltreatment and its sequelae: Testing postpartum effects in a longitudinal birth cohort. Dev Psychopathol 2019; 31(1): 143-56.
  28. Wolford SN, Cooper AN, McWey LM. Maternal depression, maltreatment history, and child outcomes: The role of harsh parenting. Am J Orthopsychiatry 2019; 89(2): 181.
  29. Mulder TM, Kuiper KC, van der Put CE, Stams GJ, Assink M. Risk factors for child neglect: A meta-analytic review. Child Abuse Negl 2018; 77: 198-210.
  30. Walsh C, McMillan H, Jamieson E. The relationship between parental psychiatric disorder and child physical and sexual abuse: Findings from the Ontario Health Supplement. Child Abuse Negl 2002; 26(1): 11-22.
  31. Faul F, Erdfelder E, Lang AG, Buchner A. G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behav Res Methods 2007; 39(2): 175-91.
  32. Lovibond PF, Lovibond SH. The structure of negative emotional states: Comparison of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) with the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. Behav Res Ther 1995; 33(3): 335-43.
  33. Asghari A, Saed F, Dibajnia P. Psychometric properties of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) in a non-clinical Iranian sample. Int J Psychol 2008; 2(2): 82-102.
  34. Abdollahzadeh Rafi M, Alizadeh H, Farokhi N. [The role of religion as a mediator between emotional abuse and emotional disorders in adolescents]. Psychology of exceptional individuals 2014; 3: 83-106. (Persian)
  35. Achenbach TM, Rescorla L. Manual for the ASEBA school-age forms and profiles: An integrated system of multi-informant assessment. Burlington, VT: Aseba; 2001.
  36. Minaee A. [Adaptation and standardization of child behavior checklist, youth self-report, and teacher’s report forms]. Journal of exceptional children 2006; 6(1): 529-58. (Persian)
  37. Feldman R. Life span development. Boston, MA: Pearson; 2023.
  38. Papp LM, Cummings EM, Goeke-Morey MC. Parental psychological distress, parent-child relationship qualities, and child adjustment: Direct, mediating, and reciprocal pathways. Parent Sci Pract 2005; 5(3): 259-83.
Journal of Fundamentals of Mental Health
Volume 25, Issue 6
November and December 2023
Pages 387-394

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics