Abstract

Child abuse is a global problem that disrupts children’s normal development and has several negative consequences, including poor school adjustment. Some researchers have shown that social support might help abuse victims adjust better to the school environment. Thus, this study investigates the moderator and mediator roles of perceived social support from parents, classmates, and teachers in the relationship between exposure to abuse and school adjustment. Data were collected within the study Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC), conducted in Romania in 2014. The sample consisted of 1712 adolescents (M = 15.05 years, SD = 0.4), of which 55.4% girls and 44.6% boys. The results showed that abused adolescents, in some cases, perceive less parent, classmate, and teacher support and report lower school adjustment scores than non-abused ones. Exposure to abuse, single or multiple types, had a negative effect on school adjustment, while social support from the three sources had a positive effect. The three types of social support were both moderators and mediators of the relationship between exposure to some types of abuse and school adjustment. Findings have practical implications for abused children therapy and the design and implementation of prevention and intervention programs in schools.

摘要

虐待儿童是一个全球性问题，它扰乱了儿童的正常发育，并产生了若干负面后果，包括学校适应不良。一些研究人员表明，社会支持可能有助于虐待受害者更好地适应学校环境。因此，本研究调查了来自父母、同学和老师的感知社会支持在遭受虐待与学校调整之间的关系中的调节和中介作用。数据是在学龄儿童健康行为研究中收集的(HBSC)，2014 年在罗马尼亚进行。样本包括 1712 名青少年（M = 15.05 岁，SD = 0.4），其中 55.4% 的女孩和 44.6% 的男孩。结果表明，在某些情况下，受虐待的青少年对父母、同学和老师的支持更少，并且报告的学校适应分数低于未受虐待的青少年。暴露于单一或多种类型的虐待对学校调整产生负面影响，而来自三种来源的社会支持则产生积极影响。这三种社会支持在遭受某些类型的虐待与学校调整之间的关系中都是调节者和中介者。研究结果对受虐待儿童的治疗以及学校预防和干预计划的设计和实施具有实际意义。