Relationship of child abuse with personality features and high risk behaviors in adolescents

Background: Children are one of the most vulnerable groups of the society and are constantly threatened by different people in their family or society. The aim of this study was investigating the correlation of child abuse with personality features and high risk behavior in high school students of Islamshahr, Iran.

Methods: This study cross-sectional analytical was conducted on the high school girls and boys of Islamshahr in spring 2014.528 students were selected by cluster random sampling among 4 high schools (two female and two male high schools). Childhood trauma questionnaire, NEO-Five Factor Inventory and Youth Risk-Taking Scale were used for data collection. Data were analyzed by independence t-test, Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression.

Results: The results of independence t-test indicated significant differences between girls and boys in terms of child abuse and high risk experience (t=-2.16,p=0.03 and t=-5.03, P=0.001, respectively). Also, the results demonstrated a significant relationship between child abuse and personality characteristics, high risk behavior and all its subscales (P<0.05). The findings of multiple linear regressionindicated that child abuse could explain 14% total risk-taking, 25% neurotic personality feature , 14% extroversion, 10% agreeableness, 1% flexibility and 13% conscientiousness (P<0.05).

Conclusion: According to the research findings, appropriate behavior with children is of great importance. Therefore, child abuse would form inappropriate personality features and increase risk behaviors among children.