ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Parents as caregivers are one of the most influential agents of socialisation/emotional stability in the lives of children, but the parent-child relationship is hardly conflict-free: occasional distress that affects mental health is known to occur. The present study examines the effect of adolescents' perception of their parents on the child's own self-image/mental health. METHOD: Seven hundred and thirty-one (731) junior high school adolescents, living with their parents in the Ibaraki area of Japan, participated in the study. The self-esteem and self-denial scales assessed adolescents' self-image, while the trait-anxiety and depression tools rated mental health. The adolescents' perception of parents was measured with two tools: a checklist of negative/positive descriptive adjectives of parents, and the Perceived Emotional Support from Family scale. The structural equation modelling (SEM) of the study hypothesis was constructed and analysed by the AMOS statistics. RESULTS: Adolescents' image of their parents affected the children's self-image and mental health. A positive adolescent image of parents elicited a positive adolescent self-image, leading to a marked reduction in mental distress among children. The model outcome was applicable to boys and girls. CONCLUSIONS: A positive image of parents enhanced adolescents' self-image, and facilitated psychological wellbeing in children, irrespective of their sex.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The magnitude of the AIDS-orphaned children crisis in sub-Saharan Africa has so overstretched the resource of most families that the collapse of fostering in the sub-region seems imminent (UNICEF, 2003), fueling the need for a complementary/alternative care. This paper examines the probability of the natural mentoring care to ameliorate distress mental health in children orphaned by AIDS. METHODS: 952 children, mean age about 14 years, from local community schools and child-care centers in Kampala (Uganda) and Mafikeng/Klerksdorp (South Africa) towns participated in the study. The design has AIDS-orphaned group (n = 373) and two control groups: Other-causes orphaned (n = 287) and non-orphaned (n = 290) children. We use measures of child abuse, depression, social discrimination, anxiety, parental/foster care, self-esteem, and social support to estimate mental health. Natural mentoring care is measured with the Ragins and McFarlin (1990) Mentor Role Instrument as adapted. RESULTS: AIDS-orphaned children having a natural mentor showed significant decreased distress mental health factors. Similar evidence was not observed in the control groups. Also being in a natural mentoring relationship inversely related to distress mental health factors in the AIDS-orphaned group, in particular. AIDS-orphaned children who scored high mentoring relationship showed significant lowest distress mental health factors that did those who scored moderate and low mentoring relationship. CONCLUSIONS: Natural mentoring care seems more beneficial to ameliorate distress mental health in AIDS-orphaned children (many of whom are double-orphans, having no biological parents) than in children in the control groups.
Subject(s)
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/mortality , Child, Orphaned/psychology , Foster Home Care/methods , Mental Disorders/rehabilitation , Mentors/psychology , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/epidemiology , Adaptation, Psychological , Adolescent , Adolescent Behavior/psychology , Adult , Cause of Death , Child , Child Abuse/psychology , Child Abuse/statistics & numerical data , Female , Humans , Male , Mental Disorders/psychology , Parents , Shame , Social Support , South Africa/epidemiology , Stress, Psychological/prevention & control , Stress, Psychological/psychology , Stress, Psychological/rehabilitation , Surveys and Questionnaires , Uganda/epidemiologyABSTRACT
The study examined the psychosocial mental health of some children whose parents died of AIDS (n = 373) in Uganda and South Africa. The design had 2 control groups: other-causes orphaned (n = 287), and non-orphaned (n = 290) children (grand mean age = 13.59, SD = 2.34). We utilized a battery of standardized psychosocial measures to estimate mental health in the groups. Natural mentoring relationship was estimated with the Ragins and McFarlin (J Vocat Behav 37:321-339, 1990) Mentor Role Instrument. Results indicated that AIDS-orphaned children showed highest negative, and lowest positive mental health factors in the 3 groups. Children in a mentoring relationship showed better mental health factors than those without a mentor. We ascribed the AIDS-orphaned children's highest negative mental health condition to the incidence of higher double parental loss in the group, and suggested natural mentorship as a palliative care against negative mental health.
Subject(s)
Child, Orphaned/psychology , Foster Home Care/psychology , HIV Infections/mortality , Mental Disorders/psychology , Mentors/psychology , Palliative Care/psychology , Social Adjustment , Adaptation, Psychological , Adolescent , Adolescent Behavior/psychology , Analysis of Variance , Bereavement , Child , Female , Foster Home Care/statistics & numerical data , HIV Infections/psychology , Humans , Male , Mental Disorders/epidemiology , Palliative Care/methods , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales/statistics & numerical data , Social Support , South Africa , Surveys and Questionnaires , UgandaABSTRACT
Consistent condom use, particularly by promiscuous individuals, is a major safeguard against sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. This study examines some demographic factors that may affect such use among Bangladeshi female commercial sex workers at a brothel in Tangail (n = 196; mean age = 23.44 years), and the streets of Dhaka (n = 112; mean age = 25.92 years). The chi2 results indicated that sex workers over 19 years of age were 2.52 times more likely than adolescents under 19 to work on the street rather than at a brothel (chi2 = 8.73, p < .0.01, OR = 2.52, 95% CI = 1.35-4.72). Brothel sex workers aged over 19 years reported 3.26 probability to regularly use condom with clients than those adolescents aged below 19 years (chi2 = 6.23, p < 0.01, OR = 3.26, 95% CI = 1.25-8.53). This study found age to be a significant demographic correlate of regular condom use, particularly, among the brothel workers.
Subject(s)
Adolescent Behavior/psychology , Condoms/statistics & numerical data , Sex Work/statistics & numerical data , Sexual Behavior/statistics & numerical data , Sexually Transmitted Diseases/prevention & control , Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , Bangladesh , Educational Status , Female , Health Behavior , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Humans , Odds Ratio , Risk-Taking , Socioeconomic Factors , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Depression, the most common affective disorder in cancer, has a major impact on quality of life. Various risk factors may interact and affect a cancer patient's depressive state. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between depression and postoperative symptom experience, personality, and psychosocial factors in Japanese gastrectomy patients. Causal relationships of these variables were also estimated. Eighty-two Japanese gastrectomy patients (M age = 63.63 years, SD = 10.21; men = 50, women = 32), who had been discharged within the last 3 years with no indication of cancer recurrence, participated in the study. Results showed significant correlations between depression and age, time-since-discharge, postoperative symptom experience, frequency of symptoms, self-esteem, and emotional support. Path analysis showed sufficient goodness of fit index (GFI = 0.993, AGFI = 0.963). Interpersonal dependency, emotional support, and marital status showed a direct effect on self-esteem, which, along with postoperative symptom experience, had a direct effect on depression. Findings provide a useful reference point for further understanding the mental health condition of postgastrectomy patients.
Subject(s)
Attitude to Health , Depressive Disorder/etiology , Gastrectomy , Personality , Postoperative Complications/etiology , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Attitude to Health/ethnology , Cross-Sectional Studies , Dependency, Psychological , Depressive Disorder/diagnosis , Depressive Disorder/ethnology , Female , Gastrectomy/adverse effects , Gastrectomy/psychology , Health Status , Humans , Japan , Male , Middle Aged , Models, Psychological , Nursing Methodology Research , Postoperative Complications/diagnosis , Postoperative Complications/psychology , Regression Analysis , Risk Factors , Self Concept , Social Support , Stomach Neoplasms/ethnology , Stomach Neoplasms/surgery , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Adolescents are frequently admonished to be socially assertive in order to confront negative interpersonal peer influences. Since the advent of HIV/AIDS in human social chemistry, the admonition has become more critical than ever. But the warning is often proffered in the misguided presumption that social assertiveness is the all-required psycho-structure against risk. The present cross-national study examines social and sexual assertiveness in four-country adolescent samples of Nigerian, Thai, Chinese, and Japanese college students. The findings reveal that sexual rather than social assertiveness was the sine qua non against risk, cross-culturally.
Subject(s)
Assertiveness , Cross-Cultural Comparison , Risk-Taking , Sexual Behavior/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , China , Female , HIV Infections/prevention & control , Humans , Japan , Male , Nigeria , Regression Analysis , Safe Sex , Social Behavior , Students , Surveys and Questionnaires , ThailandABSTRACT
Assertiveness, defined as perceived confidence to express true feelings in interpersonal relationships, has been reported to correlate with HIV risk avoidance. However, Japanese social structure encourages amae or self-repression. The present study investigated the implications of amae for HIV risk avoidance among Japanese university students. The results indicated that amae was antithetical to risk reduction.
Subject(s)
Assertiveness , Cultural Characteristics , HIV Infections/ethnology , Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice , Interpersonal Relations , Risk-Taking , Adult , Analysis of Variance , Condoms/statistics & numerical data , Cross-Sectional Studies , HIV Infections/psychology , Health Behavior/ethnology , Humans , Japan , Peer Group , Psychological Tests , Repression, Psychology , Students , UniversitiesABSTRACT
The mental health of the only-child continues to generate interest in research literature. The present study examines the issue in China, where the one-child phenomenon is highest due to deliberate government policy. Subjects are 299 and 333 students in two high-rank high schools in urban Harebin and rural Qing an Xian, respectively (mean age = 17.2 years). Both locations are in the Heilongjiang Sheng Province of China. Results showed that urban only-children experienced significantly lower love awareness from family, higher neurotic and social depression, trait anxiety, perceived stressors, and interpersonal dependency than did urban non-only children. No significant differences were found in the rural only- and non-only children. Low love awareness from parents and peers was associated with high negative mental health conditions in the children. Low love awareness also precipitated perceived stressors which resulted in negative mental health in the covariance structure analysis.
