Contemporary psychology, Vol. 5 No. 1, 2002.
Original scientific paper
The quality of family interaction and psychopathological symptoms in children and adolescents
Anita Vulić-Prtorić
Abstract
The paper presents the results of an investigation conducted with the aim of determining the specific quality of family interactions which are related to aggression, depression, anxiety and somatisation in children and adolescents. The research was conducted on a sample of 435 5 th to 8 th grade students, using five scales: The Quality of Family Interactions Scale (Vulić-Prtorić, 2000a), Aggression Scale (Keresteš, 1999), Children and Adolescents Depression Scale (Vulić-Prtorić, 2002b), Scale of Generalised Anxiety and Somatisation Scale (Vulić-Prtorić, 2002a).
The results show that all aspects of internalised and externalised problems studied in this investigation are significantly related to perceived rejection by the mother and father. Differences in the significance of individual dimensions of family interactions with the mother and father are noted with regard to the psychological problems of girls and boys, respectively.
The obtained results confirm the theoretical hypotheses of developmental psychopathology regarding the importance of the quality of family interactions, with special reference to Ronald Rohner's theory of parental acceptance and rejection. The practical implications of the obtained results are discussed, focusing on treatment planning for children and adolescents with internalised and externalised psychological problems.
Keywords
Family interactions; depression; aggresion; anxiety; somatisation
Hrčak ID:
3214
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2002.
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