Changes in psychiatric behavior of adolescents due to absence one of the parents

Abstract EN

This study aimed at exploring psychiatric morbidity among adolescents of single parent families.

Subjects were recruited from 15 randomly chosen schools distributed in 3 educational districts in Greater Cairo.

They were candidates for socio-demographic data sheet, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Children Anxiety Scale(CAS), Children Depression Inventory(CDI), Youth Self Report(YSR), and symptom check list(SCL).

Single parenting was due to parental death in 55.67%, parental travel in 29.31% ,divorce in 7.88% and desertion in 7.14%.

Stratistically Higher minimal psychiatric morbidity, higher anxiety and depression symptoms, and higher YSR behavioral problem scores were found in single-parent than two-parent adolescents.

Single parenting was significantly associated with low scholastic achievement and with diagnosis depression, mixed anxiety depression, and mixed anxiety with somatization disorder and phobias (specially social phobia).Conduct disorder and psychoactive substance experimentation although it is overrepresented, it didn’t show a significant correlation.

Parent absence (particularly the father), through divorce or death has greater impact on boys than girls.

Every type of single parenting has its own profile on adolescent’s behavioral and psychiatric problems.