Correlation of Childhood Maltreatment, Self-Compassion and Mental Health in Married People

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 M.Sc. in Counseling, Islamic Azad University, Khomein Science and Research Branch

2 Assistant professor of Psychology, Arak University

3 Assistant Department of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch Khomein

Abstract

Introduction
The aim of this study is to explore the correlation between childhood maltreatment types, self-compassion and mental health in married people.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study 350 married male and female individuals residing in Tehran in 2013 were randomly selected using multi-stage cluster sampling and assigned to complete copies of inventories focused on self-reported child abuse, self-compassion and general health. Thirteen completed copies were excluded due to insufficient information whereupon 337 copies were reviewed. SPSS version 19, Pearson’s Correlation, Linear and Multiple Regression were used to analyze the data.
Results: There was a significant negative correlation between maltreatment and self-compassion (r=0.521; P<0.001), a significant positive correlation between maltreatment and general health (r=0.306; P<0.001). The findings from multiple regression analysis indicated that the subscales for physical harassment, emotional harassment and neglect were significant predictors of self-compassion. The neglect subscale contributed most to the explanation of self-compassion. Furthermore, the emotional harassment subscale alone was capable of predicting general health (P<0.001).
Conclusion: The findings indicated that the greater the childhood harassment, the smaller the adulthood self-compassion and that the greater the childhood harassment, the greater the adulthood syndromes of mental disease.   

Keywords

References

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Journal of Fundamentals of Mental Health
Volume 16, Issue 62 - Serial Number 62
July and August 2014
Pages 130-41

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