Citation

León-Del-Barco B, Fajardo-Bullón F, Mendo-Lázaro S, Rasskin-Gutman I, Iglesias-Gallego D. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018; 15(7): e15071314.

Affiliation

Department of Didactics of Music, Plastic and Body Expression. Teacher Training College, University of Extremadura, 10071 Cáceres, Spain. diglesia@unex.es.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph15071314

PMID

29937491

Abstract

The analysis of the mental health in children under 14 years has become a research topic of global interest where the family can be a key factor for protection or risk against mental health problems. With this work, we intend to determine, employing binary logistic regression analysis, whether parental acceptance-rejection perceived by boys and girls can predict their mental health. Seven hundred sixty-two students participated, the average age was 12.23 years; 53.8% (n = 410) girls and 46.2% (n = 352) boys. We have used the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), self-reported version and the Affection Scale children version (EA-H) for parental acceptance-rejection to assess mental health. The odds ratio (OR) of the logistic models reports that there is a greater probability of having mental health problems in boys and girls when they perceive that they are highly criticized and rejected by their parents. With our work, we highlight the importance of the environment and family affection on mental health. The perception of the children about the rejection, aversion, and criticism of their parents constitutes a risk factor in the manifestation of mental health problems.

Language: en

Keywords

adolescence; family; mental health; parental affection; parental rejection; preadolescence