CHILD ABUSE AND POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS IN ABUSED ADOLESCENTS: INTERVENING ROLEOF EMOTION REGULATION DIFFICULTIES

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Afreen Komal and Farah Malik

Abstract

The present research aimed to explore the association between child abuse and posttrauma stress symptoms and
the mediating role of emotion regulation in abused adolescents. A Sample of 330 adolescents, including both
boys = 165 and girls = 165 with the age range of 11 to 17 years (M=14.03, SD = 3.76), was recruited from three
centers of Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) of Punjab province using a non-probability purposive
sampling technique. The Urdu versions of ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool-Child Version (ICAST;
Zolotor et al., 2009), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form (DERS-SF; Kaufman, Xia, Fosco,
Yaptangco, Skidmore, & Crowell, 2016), and Children's Revised Impact of Event Scale (CRIES-13; Horowitz,
Wilner., & Alvarez, 1979) were used. Findings showed that child abuse was significantly positively correlated
with difficulties in emotion regulation and posttraumatic stress. Similarly, difficulty in emotion regulation was
also significantly positively associated with posttraumatic stress. However, mediation indicated increased child
abuse tends to increase emotion regulation difficulties. However, increased difficulties in emotion regulation
turn into increased posttraumatic stress (β = .18, p < .001). Study findings draw the attention of policymakers
and mental health professionals towards early assessment and intervention for abused adolescents.

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