The relationship between perceived emotional abuse and self-harm and risky behaviors in adolescents

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived emotional abuse and self-harm and risky behaviors in adolescents. In addition, perceived emotional abuse, self-harm and risky behaviors of adolescents are examined according to gender, grade level, school type and family income. The research is a descriptive study and relational screening model is used. 725 students who attended volutaryly from the 9th, 10th and 11th grades of Süleyman Demirel Science High School, TOBB Science High School, Süha Erler Anatolian High School, Sevim Şirikçi Girl Vocational High School, Altınşehir Vocational and Technical High School formed this research group in Kahramanmaraş Province in 2017-2018 academic year. Personal Information Form, Parental Emotional Abuse Scale, Teacher Emotional Abuse Scale, Self-Harm Behavior Assessment Inventory and Risky Behaviors Scale were used as data collection tools. Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman Brown Rank Differences correlation test and Multiple Regression Analysis were used to analyze the data. According to the results of the study, the perceived emotional abuse of adolescents showed a significant difference according to gender, school type, class level and family income. It was determined that adolescents' self-harm behavior differed significantly according to gender, type of school and family income but did not show significant difference according to class type. The risk behaviors of adolescents differ significantly according to gender; antisocial behaviors, alcohol use, smoking, suicidal tendency and drop-out differ according to school type; alcohol use, smoking and dropout differ significantly according to class type; It was concluded that smoking, suicidal tendency and feeding habits differ significantly according to family income. It was determined that there was a significant positive relationship between adolescents' perceived emotional abuse level and self-harm level and risky behaviors level. In this study, it was concluded that as the level of emotional abuse perceived from parents and teachers increased, self-harm and risky behaviors increased too. In the multiple regression analysis, it was observed that the level of emotional abuse perceived by the parents and the teachers significantly predicted self-harm and risky behaviors. Key Words: Adolescents, Emotional Abuse, Self-Harm Behaviour, Risky Behaviours