Comparison of the children whose families are divorced with control group in terms of mental disorders, psychological resilience, self-concept, parental acceptance/rejection, maternal self esteem and perceived social support at child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient uni

Aim: This study aims to compare children and their mothers, whose families are divorced, with children and their mothers, whose families are not divorced at the child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient unit. Method: Participants' ages ranged between 9-17 years. 41 females and 59 males with single parent family consisted of case group and 36 females and 64 males, whose family were not divorced, were included as control group. Children included the study, performed The Piers-Harris Children's Self Concept Scale, The Parental Acceptance/ Rejection Questionnaire, The Child and Youth Resilience Measure. Their mothers also performed The Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale, The Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) (parental form) and The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Findings: Children whose families were divorced were significantly different in regard to higher levels of being only children, maternal education, maternal employment status, perceived maternal and paternal rejection, and parental alienation. Children whose families were divorced also had lower rates of the number of siblings, family income, the duration of mental complaints and The Piers-Harris Children's Self Concept Scale Scores. In comparing CBCL scores, it was revealed that all Problem Behaviors subtests except Thought Problems Internalising, Externalising and Total Problem scores were significantly higher in the case group. Activity and Total Competence scores were found to be significantly lower. The Child and Youth Resilience Measure, The Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale And The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support scores were not found differences in both groups. All scale scores were assessed and compared according to parental alienation, the only major finding was that children demonstrated parental alienation in the case group perceived their fathers more rejecting. Result: In clinical population mental disorders, self-concept, parental acceptance/rejection and parental alienation levels of children, whose families were divorced, were found different from control group. Keywords: Divorce, self-concept, psychological flexibility, parental acceptance/rejection, mental disorders, parental alienation, self-esteem, perceived social support.