Temperament, Attachment Styles and Trait Anger of Parents to Adolescents Diagnosed with Conduct Disorder

Abstract

Identifying the risk factors for conduct disorder is important for the diagnosis, treatment and management of conduct problems. It is well-known that conduct disorder is associated with parental psychopathological conditions like maternal depression, paternal antisocial personality disorder, alcohol and drug abuse. It's aimed to investigate the role of psychopathological characteristics like temperament, attachment styles and trait anger of parents in adolescents with conduct disorders and compare the results with respect to gender. 101 parents consisting of 35 mothers in both groups, 15 fathers in 35 female adolescents and 16 fathers in 35 male adolescents have been included in the study. Mothers and fathers in the sample group have been compared in terms of psychopathological characteristics. Parents included in the study have been evaluated using the Turkish version of the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego Questionnaire, Adult Attachment Scale, State Trait Anger Scale and Sociodemograhic Data Form. Acumulative assessment has revealed that depressive and anxious temperaments, insecure attachment style are more common among mothers, compared to fathers. Anger-in scores in mothers were higher than the fathers. Hyperthymic temperament was more prevalent among fathers. According to the obtained data, it can be said that, there are differences in the psychopathological characteristics of parents of adolescents with conduct disorder. The preservation, treatment and management of conduct disorder in adolescents requires an evaluation of the parents' Psychopathological characteristics.