Childhood Abuse on the Development of Early Maladaptive Schemas

What is it about?

This study aims to analyze maladaptive schemas through the Young Schema Questionnaire—Short Form 3 among 895 high school students, with an average age of 18.15 years, in relation to the potentially traumatic experience of being the victim of violence inflicted by family members through hitting and beating and in connection with violent behavior (in and outside school). Almost half of the students reported that, in their families, there were prolonged problems in the couple relationship of their parents/caregivers, and almost 40% of these students were involved from time to time in at least one form of violence in or outside school, with the highest share of this violence resulting from physical aggression by hitting and pushing and verbal or emotional abuse. A factor analysis was performed using a unifactorial model and a mediation model, and it indicated that the presence of trauma increases the total violence score. A higher violence score was recorded in students who were subjected to family violence (t(890) = −6.267, p < 0.001). The schemas that proved to be the most relevant for the violence factor were those of Punitiveness (PU: 0.89) and Mistrust/Abuse (MA: 0.77), followed by the schemas of Emotional Inhibition (EI: 0.68), Unrelenting Standards/Hypercriticalness (US: 0.63), and Entitlement/Grandiosity (ET: 0.58). The mediation that the Punitiveness schema achieves between victimization in the family and subsequent aggressive behavior is based on the internalization of the punitive parental figure and the victim’s development of the belief that violence is the only answer when others do not meet their expectations.

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Why is it important?

The direct effect between being a victim of violence inflicted by family members through hitting and beating (the trauma of violence) and the violence score was significantly positive, c = 0.1874. If trauma was present, it resulted in an increase in the total violence score. In addition, the t-test indicated a higher violence score among school students who experienced violence inflicted by their families (t(890) = −6.267, p < 001). The schema correlation table below demonstrates significant correlations among all schemas. The strongest correlation was observed between MA and PU (r = 0.685, p < 0.001). All correlations are statistically significant at p < 0.001, indicating robust associations. The other three early maladaptive schemas, ET, EI, and US, associated with the latent schematic factor can also have the same mediation effect.