Estrés, apoyo social y ajuste psicológico en padres que maltratan a sus hijos

Laburpena

The objectives of this study are to examine: a) the levels of stress, psychological adjustment and social support in parents who maltreat their children, and b) the potential role of social support as a modulatory variable in relations between stress and psychological adjustment in these families. Global levels of stress experienced by parents, together with events and important changes in the family unit were evaluated using FILE (McCubbin et al.); the index of psychological adjustment was obtained using SCL-90 (D..); and, finally, social support was evaluated by means of AC-90 (Gr.). The sample was composed of 150 normal parents and 60 who maltreated their children. Results obtained led us to conclude that parents who maltreat their children experience higher levels of stress, show more psychopathological symptoms and are more socially isolated. An examination of the relation between the variables analyzed reveals a direct positive relationship between level of stress and psychological adjustment, independent of the level of social support on the psychopathological symptoms variable; nor did our results permit us to infer a modulatory or «buffer» effect of social support against the negative impact of stress on psychological adjustment