The effects of maternal acceptance-rejection on psychological distress of adolescents: The mediator roles of early maladaptive schemas


Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi, Psikoloji Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2007

Öğrenci: DİLEK SARITAŞ

Danışman: TÜLİN GENÇÖZ

Özet:

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationships between perceived maternal rejection and psychological distress of adolescents. In addition to that, mediator roles of early maladaptive schemas in this relationship were explored. A total of 356 second-grade high school students (198 females and 158 males) were participated in the study. Participants ranged in age from 15 to 18 (M = 16.17, SD= 0.53). Data was collected by a questionnaire packet consisting Demographic data form, Young Schema Questionnaire (YSQ), Parental Acceptance and Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ) , trait part of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T), trait part of State-Trait Anger Inventory (ANG-T) Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Preceding the main analyses, factor analysis for YSQ was performed. It yielded three higher-order factors for YSQ as Impaired Limits- Exaggerated Standards, Disconnection-Rejection, and Impaired Autonomy-Other Directedness. Following factor analysis, ANOVAs were employed to assess differences between adolescents perceiving high acceptance and high rejection in terms of psychological distress measures (i.e., anger, positive affect, negative affect, and anxiety). It was found that adolescents perceiving high rejection were more likely to experience anger, negative affect, and anxiety than those perceiving high acceptance. In order to test whether Impaired Limits-Exaggerated Standards, Disconnection-Rejection, and Impaired Autonomy-Other Directedness mediate the relationship between perceptions of maternal rejection and adolescents’ anger, positive affect, negative affect, and anxiety respectively, separate hierarchical regression analyses were conducted as suggested by Baron and Kenny (1986). Mediation analyses revealed in general that both maternal rejection and schema domains had main effects on psychological distress measures. However, none of the schema domains did mediate the relationship between maternal rejection and psychological distress measures except for the disconnection-rejection schema domain. The result revealed that disconnection-rejection schema domain mediated the relationship between maternal rejection and anger. These findings were discussed with reference to the relevant literature. Future research topics were suggested and therapeutic implications of the study were discussed.