The mediating role of attachment style and early maladaptive schemas in the relationship between childhood abuse and conduct disorder

Behavioral disorders include persistent behaviors that are characterized by defects in social rules and regulations and harm to children. The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating role of attachment style and early maladaptive schemas in the relationship between childhood abuse and adolescent behavior disorder.

The method of this research was descriptive correlational. The statistical population included all adolescents with adolescent behavioral disorders in Hamedan province in 2019, and 300 adolescents referred to Hamedan Psychological Clinics were selected based on the available sampling method. Subjects were assigned to Young's Schema Schedule Questionnaire (2005), the Child Injury and Abuse Scale of Peter, Eskim, and Lillefield (2006), the Revised Scale of Experimental Relationships of Ferrali and Wallournel (2016), and the Birschke Children's Patient Symptoms Questionnaire (2002) replied. The subjects' scores were analyzed using descriptive, inferential statistics and structural equation models.

The indirect effect of attachment style, dysfunctional schemas, and rejection and incision schemas in the meaningful relationship between childhood abuse and behavioral disorders were 0.36, 0.19, and 0.14, respectively, at P <0.01. The results showed that anxiety attachment style and early maladaptive schemas play a mediating role in the relationship between child abuse and adolescent behavior disorder (P <0.01).

Based on the obtained results, the pattern of adolescent behavior disorder has been developed based on the role of the child abuse component with the mediation of anxiety attachment style and early maladaptive schemas in adolescents with conduct disorder.