Child abuse and its long-term consequences: an exploratory study on Egyptian university students

Child abuse and its long-term consequences in adulthood have been recently gaining increased attention in the Arab world. This study is an extension of a similar study in Saudi Arabia, and aims to explore some epidemiological characteristics of the problem in Egypt. To study the prevalence of child abuse and associated psychological problems in adulthood, as presented in a sample of university students in Egypt. 963 students, from three different colleges of Zagazig University [Medicine, Education and Arts and Literature] answered multi-questionnaires including: General health Questionnaire [GHQ], Child Traumatic Questionnaire [CTQ] and Psychological Problem Scale [PPS]. Students reported having suffered Emotional neglect [19%], Emotional abuse [8.9%], Physical neglect [44%] and Physical abuse [6%] and Sexual abuse [13%]. Moderate to severe childhood abuse was correlated with various combinations of psychological problems [Low Self-Esteem, Dissociation, Self Harm, Impulsivity and Aggression] in adulthood. Gender and situational stresses, as indicated by GHQ, did not seem to influence the results as much as low income and large family size. In a large proportion of our sample reported both child abuse and several long-term pathological consequences of abuse in adulthood. The problem seems to be serious in this middle class sample and it remains possible that these problems could be worse in lower social classes

Autistic Traits in individuals with normal intellectual level and associated psychological distress: a pilot study in an arabic culture

The advances in the concept of Autism are among the most significant developments in the recent history of psychiatry. Psychiatric literature in the Arab world needs to put more emphasis and to encourage the local research in this area. This pilot study is adopting the wider concept of the Autistic Spectrum Disorders [ASD]. This study aims to introduce a new questionnaire i.e. The Autistic-Spectrum Quotient Questionnaire [AQ] to the psychiatric literature in the Arab World. The [AQ] questionnaire has been translated to Arabic and used on Egyptian participants. The questionnaire could not be formally validated as this is beyond the scope of this pilot study. The study has also been designed to find out if highly functioning Egyptian students could have some autistic traits and if these traits are of any clinical significance. 202 students from different colleges at Zagazig University in Egypt have fully completed the Autistic-Spectrum Quotient Questionnaire [AQ]. The students have also completed the Arabic version of the General Health Questionnaire [GHQ-30] as a measure of any associated psychological distresses. The average Autistic-Spectrum Quotient [AQ] total score is 22.72 [SD 4.44] which followed normal distribution. The General health Questionnaire [GHQ] average total score is 34.43 [SD 13.09]. A positive correlation has been found between the AQ total scores and GHQ total scores [Pearson's correlation one tailed test: P = 0.036]. Results suggest that autistic traits as expressed by the score of AQ do present in a differed range in Egyptian students not dissimilar from the British and the Japanese studies