Childhood Maltreatment and its Effect on Mental Health among Adolescents

Background: Clearly, mental health is a crucial aspect of physical health. It is a necessary component of having the ability to live a happy and full life. Psychological abuse as a form of child maltreatment can have a serious effect on mental health. The main objectives of the study were to assess the level of childhood maltreatment and looked at how psychological and physical maltreatment affected the mental health of Iraqi adolescents. in order to achieve the objectives of the study. Methods: A predictive correlation design was used in current study carried during January-August 2024One hundred adolescents (13-16 years; 50 males, 50 females) were recruited by convenience sample method and interviewed by using the Child Maltreatment scale, possible psychiatric diagnosis and current psychological and behavioral problems using the Mental Health Inventory, Content validity: was presented to a panel of 10 experts of psychologists in some hospitals and some faculty members at the University of Baghdad. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression, Chi square were used to analyze data. Results: The results revealed less than half of the sample experiencing low level of parental childhood abuse (41%) which is the high percentage and 38% are exposed to moderate level and two third experiencing fair mental health problems. Also parental childhood abuse no significantly predicted with mental health variables. The results show that there is a need for stronger defenses against childhood maltreatment. Conclusions: Gaining better psychological health always pays off because it enhances all facets of one's life. The findings emphasize the necessity of routinely screening child workers for mental health issues and the importance of taking emotional abuse into account in all preventive measures taken to stop child maltreatment as well as in efforts made to treat it to decrease its detrimental effects on both present and future mental health.