The report, published in the journal Pediatrics on Monday, points out that much of what hurts children goes beyond clear-cut forms of emotional or mental maltreatment.
Examples of physical and mental maltreatment such as 'Being kicked at checkpoints', and 'For body searching males being forced to undress in front of their family' were discussed among interviewers, as were forced labour and violation of modesty.
The study of psychology is likely to include topics dealing with aspects of human behaviour which are potentially distressing to some people – mental illness, maltreatment of certain populations (such as racial or religious persecution or child abuse and neglect) interpersonal violence, sexual assault or abortion.
Since bullying is frequent and found in all social groups, and current evidence supports that bullied children have similar or worse long-term mental health outcomes than maltreatment, this imbalance requires attention".
Notwithstanding their high occurrence among detained adolescents, the link between emotional maltreatment and mental health problems in these youths is not well researched.
This study, therefore, was designed to examine the unique link between emotional maltreatment and mental health problems, with particular attention to gender differences.
Findings from mediation analyses demonstrated the mediating effect of active and avoidant coping strategies on the association between psychological maltreatment and mental health problems.
Given the importance of investigating mitigating factors on its effect, the purpose of the present study is to investigate the mediating effect of active and avoidant coping strategies on the association between psychological maltreatment and mental health– internalizing and externalizing– problems in adolescents.
Effective interventions for maltreated children are impeded by gaps in our knowledge of the etiopathogenic mechanisms leading from maltreatment to mental disorders.
For both genders, however, the findings emphasize that care must be taken when attributing a direct causal role of child maltreatment to mental illnesses that emerge in adult life because the intervening years may be the source of critical mediating processes for later psychopathology and the direction of effects between life event and symptom reporting may be different between the genders.
Infant maltreatment-related investigations involve young caregivers who struggle with poverty, single-parenthood, drug/solvent and alcohol abuse, mental health issues, lack of social supports, and intimate partner violence.
