Parental psychological abuse toward children and mental health problems in adolescence

Objective: Present study was conducted to explore the relationship between parental psychological abuse toward their children and mental health problems in adolescence. Method: Three hundred participants age range 13-17 years, (57% boys and 43% girls) participated in the study from both public and private high schools of Lahore. Psychological maltreatment experience scale (PMES) and Youth Self-Report(YSR) were used for assessment and diagnosis. Results: Findings revealed that psychological abuse by parents significantly related with mental health problems in adolescents, for mother abuse (r= 0.24 to.67, p 0.05) and father abuse (r= 0.20 to 0.70, p 0.05). Adolescents who perceived their parents as more abusive exhibited greater problems. Regression analysis indicated that hypothesized factors of parental psychological abuse predicted the mental health problems in adolescents (contributed from 10% to 49% of variance). Conclusion: Psychological abuse by parents is related with mental health problems in adolescents. These findings will contribute to a better understanding of non-injurious psychological abuse and its impact on adolescents. Findings of the study can be used to bring the attention of parents, public and professionals’ towards damaging effects of psychological abuse on adolescents