Child maltreatment and neglect in the United Arab Emirates and relationship with low self-esteem and symptoms of depression
Language English Country Great Britain, England Media print-electronic
Document type Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Keywords
- Al Ain, Maltreatment, UAE, adolescents, children, depression, self-esteem,
- MeSH
- Depression epidemiology psychology MeSH
- Child MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Adolescent MeSH
- Child, Preschool MeSH
- Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
- Surveys and Questionnaires MeSH
- Self Concept * MeSH
- Child Abuse psychology statistics & numerical data MeSH
- Check Tag
- Child MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Adolescent MeSH
- Male MeSH
- Child, Preschool MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Geographicals
- United Arab Emirates epidemiology MeSH
OBJECTIVES: To our knowledge, this study is the first in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to investigate the prevalence of child maltreatment in relation to depressive symptoms and self-esteem. STUDY DESIGN: Exposure to physical maltreatment, emotional abuse and neglect was evaluated in 518 adolescents (86% response rate) randomly selected from schools in Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The Rosenberg self-esteem scale and the Beck Depression Inventory were used to measure self-esteem and depressive symptoms by using multivariate logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: The mean age of study participants was 14.3 years. Emotional abuse was the most frequent form of maltreatment (33.9%), physical abuse (12.6%) and neglect (12.1%) followed. Male sex was a positive predictor of physical abuse (OR = 2.12; 95% CI 1.18-3.77), whilst higher maternal level of education was protective (OR = 0.40; 95% CI 0.19-0.86). Daily screen time (OR = 2.77; 95% CI 1.17-6.56) and tobacco smoking (OR = 1.86; 95% CI 1.09-3.18) positively predicted emotional abuse. Emotionally maltreated and neglected participants were less likely to report high level of self-esteem and more likely to report symptoms of depression. CONCLUSIONS: Child maltreatment in the UAE is of a similar magnitude to what reported in other countries around the world and significantly associated with low self-esteem and depressive symptoms.
Boston Children's Hospital Harvard Medical School Boston MA USA
Center for Clinical Research University of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester MA USA
Department of Family Medicine Aga Khan University Karachi Pakistan
Department of Psychiatry Sheikh Khalifa Medical City Abu Dhabi UAE
Department of Psychology La Trobe University Victoria Australia
Department of Psychology University of British Columbia Vancouver BC Canada
Zayed Centre for Health Sciences United Arab Emirates University Al Ain UAE
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