A study of the prevalence of child abuse and its prediction from parents’ depression and anxiety, attachment styles and mental health of their adolescent boys

Abstract

Objective:The aim of the present study was to a) to determine the prevalence of child abuse and b) to predict it from a study of parents’ depression and anxiety, and attachment style and mental health of their adolescent sons. Method: The population of the study comprises all adolescent boys enrolled in middle schools in Ardabil city. To determine the prevalence of different types of child-abuse a survey was conducted, and to predict it a discriminant functional analysis was used. The prevalence sample comprised 2000 students selected through a multi-stage random sampling procedure, of which 200 students scoring high and 200 scoring low were selected for hypotheses testing. Data were collected using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Beck Depression Inventory, II (BDI-II),State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), modified Hazan & Shaver Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ) and Symptom Check List 90 (SCL-90-R). Descriptive statistics and discriminant function analysis were used to analyze the data. Results: The results showed that 14.85% of the subjects were exposed to child-abuse, with emotional abuse being most prevalent. Furthermore, child abuse can be predicted from the variables of parents’ depression and anxiety, attachment style and mental health of their adolescent sons. Conclusion and recommendations: Considering the destructive effects of child abuse, by research into child abuse and identification of its predictive factors, necessary interventions can be implemented to prevent it.

Keywords

• child abuse
• parental depression and anxiety
• attachment styles
• mental health