Comparison of Social Acceptability, Conduct Disorders, and Difficulty in Emotion Regulation between Children of Divorce, Children with Parental Death, and Normal Children in Qom in 2020: A Descriptive Study

The experience of separation and death of parents can lead to many psychological and behavioral problems. The aim of this study was to determine and compare social acceptability, conduct disorders and difficulty in emotion regulation in children of divorce, children with parental death, and normal children.

In this descriptive study, 180 6th-grade and middle school students in Qom in 2020 were selected by purposive and available sampling method, which includes 60 students with parental death, 60 students with divorced parents, and 60 normal students. Ford and Rubin Social Acceptability Questionnaire, Spirafkin and Gado Conduct Disorder Questionnaire, and Penza-Cliyve and Zeman Emotion Regulation Difficulty Questionnaire were used to collect data. Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).

The findings showed that there is a significant difference among the children with divorced parents, children with parental death experience, and normal children in conduct disorders (F=50.807, p<0.001), difficulty in emotion regulation (F=11.344, p<0.001), and social acceptability (F=4.420, p=0.013). Thus, social acceptanbility, conduct disorders and difficulty in emotion regulation were higher in the students with divorced parents than students with parental deaths and normal students.

According to the results of the study, the rate of conduct disorders and difficulty in emotion regulation in the children of divorce is higher than the children with parental deaths and normal children. Therefore, it is recommended to use psychological training and therapies to reduce psychological problems including symptoms of conduct disorders and improve emotion regulation and increase social acceptability in the students experiencing parental divorce and parental death.