The psychological profile of a physically abused preschooler

Husain, Lamiaa Fathi Ali

doi:10.21608/jsrep.2025.415651

The psychological profile of a physically abused preschooler

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Lamiaa Fathi Ali Husain

Lecturer in the Kindergarten Department, Faculty of Humanities Studies, Cairo, Al-Azhar University.

10.21608/jsrep.2025.415651

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the psychological profile of physically abused preschool children in light of various variables (depression, anxiety, psychological fragility, aggressive behavior, and general intelligence). A sample of 132 preschool children was used in the exploratory phase, while the main sample consisted of 88 preschool children from the Model City of Nasr Institute and A'ida Al-Azmi Kindergarten, including 44 abused children and 44 non-abused children. The researcher employed a descriptive methodology and utilized the following tools: the Egjal Seri scale to measure children's intelligence (Egjal Seri, 1988), a self-developed scale to measure physical abuse in preschool children, the Birleson scale to measure depression in preschool children (Birleson et al., 1987), adapted and modified into a pictorial scale by the researcher, and self-developed scales to measure anxiety, psychological fragility, and aggressive behavior in preschool children. The results revealed a prevalence of parental physical abuse among preschool children in the current sample. Moreover, the study demonstrated significant differences in the psychological profiles of abused and non-abused preschool children in terms of depression, anxiety, aggressive behavior, and psychological fragility. However, no significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of general intelligence.

Keywords

References

Dhaliwal, T. K., Graham, J., Chiang, Y. C., & Johnson, A. S. (2024). Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child? A Critical Discourse Analysis of State Corporal Punishment Policies and Practices. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, June 2024, Vol. 46, No. 2, pp. 249–275‏

Doroudchi, A., Zarenezhad, M., Hosseininezhad, H., Malekpour, A., Ehsaei, Z., Kaboodkhani, R., & Valiei, M. (2023). Psychological complications of the children exposed to domestic violence: a systematic review. Egyptian journal of forensic sciences, 13(1), 26

Francis, K. J., & Wolfe, D. A. (2008). Cognitive and emotional differences between abusive and non-abusive fathers. Child abuse & neglect, 32(12), 1127-1137.

Gershoff, E. T., Lee, S. J., & Durrant, J. E. (2017). Promising intervention strategies to reduce parents’ use of physical punishment. Child abuse & neglect, 71, 9-23.

Gibb, B. E., Butler, A. C., & Beck, J. S. (2003). Childhood abuse, depression, and anxiety in adult psychiatric outpatients. Depression and anxiety, 17(4), 226-228.‏

Gonzalez, C., Morawska, A., Higgins, D. J., & Haslam, D. M. (2024). Acceptability of corporal punishment and use of different parenting practices across high‐income countries. Australian Journal of Social Issues.3- 19

Havighurst, S. S., Mathews, B., Doyle, F. L., Haslam, D. M., Andriessen, K., Cubillo, C., ... & Higgins, D. J. (2023). Corporal punishment of children in Australia: The evidence-based case for legislative reform. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 47(3), 100044.

Jun, M., Lee, S. Y., & Shim, T. E. (2023). A study on the subjectivity of South Korean parents regarding corporal punishment in early childhood. Child Abuse & Neglect, 140, 106193.

Kalolo, J. F., & Kapinga, O. S. (2023). Towards ending corporal punishment in African countries: Experiences from Tanzania. International Journal of Educational Development, 102, 102839.

Katembu, S., Zahedi, A., & Sommer, W. (2023). Childhood trauma and violent behavior in adolescents are differentially related to cognitive-emotional deficits. Frontiers in public health, 11, 1001132.‏

Kennedy, A. C., Bybee, D., Sullivan, C. M., & Greeson, M. (2009). The effects of community and family violence exposure on anxiety trajectories during middle childhood: The role of family social support as a moderator. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 38(3), 365-379.‏

Khachatryan, K., Witt, A., Clemens, V., Beutel, M. E., Brähler, E., & Fegert, J. M. (2023). East-West differences in experienced corporal punishment: Results of a representative German study. Children and Youth Services Review, 153, 107111.

Klebanov, B., Tsur, N., & Katz, C. (2023). " Many bad things had been happening to me": children's perceptions and experiences of polyvictimization in the context of child physical abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 145, 106429.

Lee, M. A., & Song, R. (2017). Childhood abuse, personality traits, and depressive symptoms in adulthood. Child abuse & neglect, 65, 194-203.‏

Lin, Z., Zhou, Z., Zhu, L., & Wu, W. (2023). Parenting styles, empathy and aggressive behavior in preschool children: an examination of mediating mechanisms. Frontiers in psychology, 14, 1243623.‏

Lokot, M., Bhatia, A., Kenny, L., & Cislaghi, B. (2020). Corporal punishment, discipline and social norms: A systematic review in low-and middle-income countries. Aggression and violent behavior, 55, 101507.

Ma, J., & Grogan-Kaylor, A. (2017). Longitudinal associations of neighborhood collective efficacy and maternal corporal punishment with behavior problems in early childhood. Developmental Psychology, 53(6). https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000308

Ma, J., Han, Y., & Kang, H. R. (2022). Physical punishment, physical abuse, and child behavior problems in South Korea. Child Abuse & Neglect, 123, 105385.‏

Özbay, A., Asagidag, R., & Eker, E. (2024). The effects of the child physical abuse on the children's mental health. Journal of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, 41(1), 192-200.‏

Rademacher, A., Zumbach, J., & Koglin, U. (2023). Parenting style and child aggressive behavior from preschool to elementary school: The mediating effect of emotion dysregulation. Early Childhood Education Journal, 1-10.‏

Ran, G., Zhang, Q., Zhang, Q., Li, J., & Chen, J. (2023). The association between child abuse and aggressive behavior: a three-level meta-analysis. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 24(5), 3461-3475.‏

Salokangas, R. K., Schultze-Lutter, F., Schmidt, S. J., Pesonen, H., Luutonen, S., Patterson, P., ... & Hietala, J. (2020). Childhood physical abuse and emotional neglect are specifically associated with adult mental disorders. Journal of Mental Health.‏

Silke, O., Simon, S. G., Sosnowski, D. W., Johnson, S. B., Granger, D. A., & Riis, J. L. (2025). Patterns of stress-related change in salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol among young children: Associations with maternal psychosocial risk factors. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 171, 107221.‏

Swailam, I., Fahiem, M., Hesham, R., & Magdy, Y. (2022). On Positive Parenting: Preventing Disciplinary Violence Against Children Within Egyptian Households

Tanaka, A., Raishevich, N., & Scarpa, A. (2010). Family conflict and childhood aggression: The role of child anxiety. Journal of interpersonal violence, 25(11), 2127-2143.‏

Teicher, M. H., Samson, J. A., Anderson, C. M., & Ohashi, K. (2016). The effects of childhood maltreatment on brain structure, function and connectivity. Nature reviews neuroscience, 17(10), 652-666.‏‏

Tomoda, A., Nishitani, S., Takiguchi, S., Fujisawa, T. X., Sugiyama, T., & Teicher, M. H. (2024). The neurobiological effects of childhood maltreatment on brain structure, function, and attachment. European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience, 1-20.

Visser, L. N., van der Put, C. E., & Assink, M. (2022). The association between school corporal punishment and child developmental outcomes: a meta-analytic review. Children, 9(3), 383

Vizard, E., Gray, J., & Bentovim, A. (2022). The impact of child maltreatment on the mental and physical health of child victims: A review of the evidence. BJPsych Advances, 28(1), 60-70.‏

Zhang, W. B., Jia, F. F., Liu, B. P., Li, Q., & Jia, C. X. (2024). Explaining how childhood physical abuse and physical neglect influence adult depression: an analysis with multiple sequential mediators. Child Abuse & Neglect, 152, 106771.‏

مواقع إلكترونية:

1- موقع منظمة الصحة العالمية.

https://www.who.int/ar/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-children تاريخ التصفح: 2 سبتمبر 2024م، 4:84م

https://www.who.int/ar/publications/b/58002

https://www.who.int/ar/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-children تاريخ التصفح: 2 سبتمبر 2024م، 4:84م

2- الصفحة الرسمية لوزارة التضامن الاجتماعي المصرية على فيس بوك:

https://www.facebook.com/MoSS.Egypt/videos/5292344174211292

تاريخ نشر الفيديو: 27 نوفمبر 2022م، تاريخ التصفح: 2 سبتمبر 2024م، 5:00م.

3- موقع منظمة اليونيسيف:

https://data.unicef.org/topic/violence/

تاريخ التصفح: 30 أكتوبر 2024م، 7:00 م.