Marina Ajduković

Psychological well-being of refugee children.

Two groups of refugee families participated in a program aimed at preventing childrens mental health problems. The program attempted to gain insight into the character and scope of problems of refugee families and to develop and implement a spectrum of interventions that would meet their specific psychological needs. Data about the family situation and the psychosocial adaptation of refugee children to displacement was gathered during detailed structured interviews with the mothers, while the study families were accommodated either in a shelter or with host families. A considerable range of stress-related reactions among displaced children were identified (e.g., sleeping and eating disorders, separation fears, and withdrawal or aggression). Refugee children exhibited a significantly higher incidence of stress reactions if their mothers had difficulty coping with the stress of displacement. The findings also indicated that children in the collective shelter were at greater mental health risk than their peers housed with host families.

Impact of displacement on the psychological well-being of refugee children

The war-related stress had a negative impact on the psychological well-being of all children in Croatia, but displaced and refugee children were especially affected. Although refugee children showed impressive resilience, particular attention should be devoted to children who had traumatic experiences immediately prior to displacement. These children either lived without their parents or with parents who had poor coping abilities while displaced; lived in families that had accumulated several stressful experiences; or were housed in large collective refugee centers. The children that had poorer coping capacities and lacked a supportive family environment displayed high levels of stress-related symptomatology throughout the entire refugee period, being at special risk for the development of further psychological difficulties. The findings reported in this study are the result of a five-year follow-up of the same group of refugee children. Data about childrens coping abilities with displacement were obtain...

Family Violence and Health Among Elderly in Croatia

This article presents the research carried out on a sample of 303 elderly men and women. In the last year they reported experiencing violence in the family as follows: psychological abuse (24.1%), financial exploitation (6.4%), physical abuse (4.4%), and sexual abuse (2.1%). The abusers were most often husbands (30.15%), sons (16.64%), daughters (14.01%), and wives (9.21%). In the partner relationship, 44% of the women and 35% of the men had experienced at least some form of violence. The results showed that elderly men and women who were victims of family abuse had poorer psychological health than those without such experiences. Elderly who had experienced partner violence consumed alcohol more often than those who had experienced violence by other household members.

Risk factors of child physical abuse by parents with mixed anxiety-depressive disorder or posttraumatic stress disorder.

Aim To determine the risk that parents with mixed anxiety and depressive disorder (MADD) or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will physically abuse their child and evaluate the specific contribution of mental health, perceived social support, experience of childhood abuse, and attributes of family relations to the risk of child physical abuse. Method The study conducted in 2007 included men (n = 25) and women (n = 25) with a diagnosis of MADD, men with a diagnosis of PTSD (n = 30), and a control sample of parents from the general population (n = 100, 45 men and 55 women) with children of elementary school age. General Information Questionnaire, Child Abuse Experience Inventory, Perceived Social Support Scale, and the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI) Clinical Abuse Scale were used. Results Total results on the Clinical Abuse Scale of the CAPI indicated higher risk of child physical abuse in parents with MADD (273.3 ± 13.6) and in fathers with PTSD (333.21 ± 17.98) than in parents from the general population (79.6 ± 9.9) (F = 110.40, P < 0.001; tPTSD,MADD = 13.73, P < 0.001). A hierarchical regression analysis showed that the greatest predictors in the multivariate model were mental health difficulties, poorer economic status, poor social support, and physical and verbal aggression in partner conflicts. Conclusion Parents with MADD and PTSD exhibit high risk of child abuse. Since parents with PTSD have significantly higher risk of child abuse than parents with MADD, further large-sample research is needed to clarify the relationship between PTSD intensity and the risk of child abuse.

THE CHILD ABUSE POTENTIAL INVENTORY: CROSS-VALIDATION IN CROATIA

The aim of this study was to cross-validate the Child Abuse Potential Inventory by Milner in Croatia. The inventory was translated and administered to 59 parents reported to centres of social work for child abuse or neglect and to a sample of 383 in the general population of parents. Data on sociodemographic variables and socioenvironmental stressors on the family were also collected. A significant difference in scores on the inventorys Abuse Scale between groups of parents was found. Discriminant analysis indicated an over-all correct classification rate for the Abuse Scale of 87.59%. The coefficient of internal consistency for the Abuse Scale for all respondents was 0.91. Results were interpreted as supportive of concurrent predictive validity in the Croatian sociocultural context.

Mothers' perception of their relationship with their children during displacement: A six month follow-up

The data presented in this work were gathered within the framework of the psychosocial assistance programme for families with children in one of the oldest displacement shelters in Croatia. Over a period of 6 months, the mothers (N = 58) assessed the psychosocial adjustment difficulties of their children and how displacement affected their relationship with their children (N = 109). The study revealed that as time passed in displacement, mothers talked significantly less with their children and were generally more nervous. The most common difficulties manifested by children were appetite disorders, night fears, sleeping disturbances in general, increased sweating, fear of separation from their mother, despondency and general fearfulness. Over time the reported incidence of stress-related reactions in children significantly decreased. However, after a year spent in displacement, 12% of the children still manifested five or more stress symptoms. Children with a higher incidence of disorders had mothers whose adaptation to displacement was poorer and whose relationship with their children was less favourable. Their families were more often separated. Particularly apparent was the importance of providing psychological assistance for mothers and children who are unable to cope with the stress of displacement.

Gender and age differences in prevalence and incidence of child sexual abuse in Croatia

Aim To examine age and gender differences in the prevalence and incidence of child sexual abuse, the level of acquaintance of the child and the perpetrator, and correlations between experiencing family violence and sexual abuse on a nationally representative sample of 11, 13, and 16 years old children. Method A probabilistic stratified cluster sample included 2.62% of the overall population of children aged 11 (n = 1223), 13 (n = 1188), and 16 (n = 1233) from 40 primary and 29 secondary schools. A modified version of ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool – Childrens Version was used. Five items referred to child sexual abuse (CSA) for all age groups. Results In Croatia, 10.8% of children experienced some form of sexual abuse (4.8% to 16.5%, depending on the age group) during childhood and 7.7% of children experienced it during the previous year (3.7% to 11.1%, depending on the age group). Gender comparison showed no difference in the prevalence of contact sexual abuse, whereas more girls than boys experienced non-contact sexual abuse. Correlations between sexual abuse and physical and psychological abuse in the family were small, but significant. Conclusion Comparisons with international studies show that Croatia is a country with a low prevalence of CSA. The fact that the majority of perpetrators of sexual abuse are male and female peers indicates the urgent need to address risks of sexual victimization in the health education of children.

University Students and Aids: Knowledge, Attitudes and Behavioral Adjustment

This study addresses the relations between AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior change among university students. A questionnaire covering such issues and personal background variables was administered to 750 students at the University of Zagreb. Over-all, 62.7% of the knowledge items were answered correctly, while functional, self-protective aspects of knowledge proved to be much better than general knowledge. On the average, attitudinal responses were moderately liberal. Both self-reported change in risk-reduction behavior and personal concern due to the appearance of AIDS were very small. Correlations of risk-reducing behavior with permissive (.15) and restrictive (.14) attitude orientations and with general and functional knowledge (.08) were modest. The level of personal concern correlated neither with permissive attitudes nor with functional knowledge, while it correlated negatively with restrictive attitudes (−.20) and with general knowledge (−.08). Substantial association was only established between functional knowledge and permissive (.51) and restrictive attitude orientations (−.23). It is concluded that, in addition to knowledge and attitudes, a number of factors which restrain desired behavioral adjustment should be considered in anti-AIDS campaigns, such as perceived level of exposure to HIV in a particular environment, young age-specific illusion of invulnerability, peer norms, and others.

The Role of Parents and Peers in Understanding Female Adolescent Sexuality--Testing Perceived Peer Norms as Mediators between Some Parental Variables and Sexuality.

Abstract Previous research has confirmed peers and parents as significant agents of socialisation with respect to young people’s sexuality. The aim of this cross-sectional cohort study was to examine how parental and peer variables predict young women’s sexual behaviour and sexuality-related thoughts and emotions, and whether perceived peer influences mediate the relationship between parental variables and young person sexuality. A total of 560 female high school students of 1st (mean age 15.56 years) and 3rd grade (mean age 17.55 years), selected by means of two-stage stratified probability sampling participated in the research. Results confirmed that peer variables explained considerably more variance in participant sexuality than parental variables. Indirect parental communication about sexuality was a significant positive predictor of sexual behaviour and sexuality-related thoughts and emotions in both subsamples. The strength of direct and indirect influences of parents and peers on young people’s sexuality is determined by the age of the young person and specific aspects of adolescent sexuality. Perceived percentage of sexually active peers was the only mediator in older participants, while in the younger subsample, additional peer variables mediated the association between some parental and sexuality variables. In the discussion, special attention is given to implications of these results for planning future forms of comprehensive sexual education.

Pristupi zbrinjavanju djece bez odgovarajuće roditeljske skrbi u Europi

U radu je opisan proces javne deinstitucionalizacije skrbi za djecu u Europi. Pritome su se koristili pokazatelji kao sto je cestina izdvajanja, odnos institucionalnog i izvaninstitucionalnog zbrinjavanja, duljina i razlozi smjestaj. U Europi broj djece koja su smjestena u ustanovama je u stalnom opadanju, sto je prvenstveno posljedica razvoja alternativnih oblika zbrinjavanja Ipak, usporedba je pokazala da su razlike među europskim zemljama su velike. Dok je u zemljama Sjeverne i Zapadne Europe proces deinstitucionalizacije u zavrsnoj fazi, u zemljama Srednje i Istocne Europe je na pocetku. Ipak svagdje se razvija svijest da je taj proces nužan i neizbježan. U drugom dijelu rada uspoređena je situacija u Hrvatskoj u odnosu na druge europske zemlje. Pokazalo se da u nizu znacajnih pokazatelja je Hrvatska primjer dobre prakse javne skrbi za djecu u Jugoistocnoj Europi.