Preliminary Study on Parental Personality Traits and Affective Expression in Abuse Children / 实用儿科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the parental personality traits and affective expression in abuse children.Methods The investigation was carried out in 3 villages in Xinxiang,Henan province,with a total of 1 310 households,of which there were altogether 370 households that had children at 10-15 years old.From them,200 households were randomly selected to screen the children for child abuse,and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and Toronto Alexithymia Scale(TAS) assessment were made among the parents who were primary caregi-vers.Independent samples t-test and Chi-square test were conducted to the 196 valid questionnaires.Results The average educated years of parents in abuse group and non-abuse group were (7.75?5.437)years old and (7.28? 2.532) years old,there was no significant diffe-rence (P=0.413).The average age of fathers in abuse group and non-abuse group were (36.16?8.96)years and (39.06?7.99)years repectively,there was no significant difference(P=0.170),and those of mothers in both groups were (36.06?5.15)years and (37.62?5.70) years respectively,there was no significant difference(P=0.121).There were 31 fathers and 49 mothers who were guardian in abuse group,while there were 35 fathers and 81 mothers in non-abuse group (?2=1.56 P=0.212).No significant differences were found in parental psychoticism [t(father)=1.221 P= 0.227;t (mother)=-0.471 P=0.639],neuroticism[t (father)=-0.524 P=0.602;t(mother)=-0.556 P=0.579],extraversion/ introversion[t(father)=-0.449 P=0.655;t(mother)=-0.859 P=0.392] and lie [t(father)=-1.263 P= 0.211;t(mother)=0.733 P= 0.465],the ability to identify and describe feelings[t(father)=0.946 P=0.348;t(mother)=0.815 P=0.417],to distinguish between bodily sensations[t(father)=0.215 P=0.831;t(mother)=2.107 P=0.037],to daydream [t(father)=-0.088 P=0.930;t(mother)=-0.971 P=0.333]and to focus on externally oriented thinking[t(father)=-0.648 P= 0.519;t(mother)=-0.164 P= 0.870] in TAS.Conclusions In a general way parents who abuse their children do not necessarily have problems with their personalities or affective expression.Not only abnormal parents are likely to assault their children,but also normal parents may do it as well.