Effect of Caring for an Abusive Parent on Mental Health: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem

Abstract

Filial caregivers with a history of childhood abuse should be acknowledged as a high-risk group of caregivers so that they can gain attention and support for targeted interventions. Additionally, evidence-based intervention programs (e.g., improving self-esteem issues) should be designed and implemented to address this group's unique challenges and concerns.

Different Types of Childhood Experience With Mothers and Caregiving Outcomes in Adulthood

“…The distinct difference between the two classes was that the “emotionally/physically abusive and authoritative” class (16%) endorsed high probabilities of some maternal warmth items (e.g., mother gave love and affection) and all discipline items, whereas the “emotionally abusive and neglectful” class (8%) endorsed low probabilities of maternal warmth and discipline items. Consistent with the work of Kong and colleagues who first investigated the prevalence of parental caregivers with a history of childhood maltreatment (Kong, 2018b; Kong & Moorman, 2015), we found two latent classes (i.e., “emotionally/physically abusive and authoritative” and “emotionally abusive and neglectful” classes) that reported a history of childhood maltreatment by their mothers. The high prevalence of these groups of caregivers underscores the value of employing the life course perspective in the context of caregiving and the need to evaluate how relationship histories can affect the caregiving experience as well as the well‐being of family caregivers.…”

“…A small amount of literature has empirically tested the impact of childhood relationships with parents on the psychological health outcomes among caregivers of aging parents. For example, Kong and colleagues (Kong, 2018b; Kong & Moorman, 2015) investigated the associations between a history of child maltreatment and mental health outcomes among caregivers of a previously abusive parent. Using large‐scale national surveys, these studies found that between 10% and 25% of caregivers reported a history of verbal or physical abuse (or both) and provided care to their abusive parents.…”

Social Support and Tinnitus Distress: The Importance of Developing Positive Psychological Qualities in Patients with Chronic Tinnitus

“…Previous studies on social support and mental health have shown that resilience exerts a mediating effect on the relationship between the 2 [Koelmel et al, 2017;Cao et al, 2018]. Concurrently, as an important internal protective factor of resilience, self-esteem is not only positively related to mental health [Kong, 2018;Yang et al, 2018], but also has a mediating effect on the relationship between social support and resilience, which jointly assist in maintaining an individual's mental health [Yao et al, 2016;Tian et al, 2018]. In other words, social support affects mental health through resilience and selfesteem.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that good social support helps maintain and elevate an individual's resilience and self-esteem, while resilience and self-esteem can directly affect an individual's mental health [Yao et al, 2016;Koelmel et al, 2017;Cao et al, 2018;Kong, 2018;Tian et al, 2018;Yang et al, 2018]. Therefore, patients who experience tinnitus may develop their resilience and self-esteem through social support, reducing the influence of tinnitus on life and work.…”

Le world café comme outil de mobilisation pour la sensibilisation à la maltraitance envers les proches aidants à Québec

“…Traitant le plus souvent de ses causes sous l'angle de la violence conjugale ou familiale, les études sur la maltraitance envers les proches aidants ne permettent pas toujours de bien appréhender ce phénomène dans sa spécificité, soit le contexte du rapport aidant-aidé, ses conséquences sur cette Service social -Volume 64, numéro 1, 2018 relation particulière, ainsi que sur la santé mentale de l'aidant (Kong, 2018). Bien que connu dans la littérature, le problème de la maltraitance des proches aidants n'est pas abordé dans les politiques et les pratiques de sorte qu'aucune mesure de prévention, de repérage ou d'intervention n'existe au Québec pour protéger ou soutenir les proches aidants qui en sont victimes.…”