Maltreatment and coping strategies among male adolescents living in the Gaza Strip.
OBJECTIVE
To establish the nature and extent of maltreatment experiences, coping strategies, and behavioral/emotional problems, and their relationships, in a sample of Palestinian adolescents.


METHODS
A study of 97 male adolescents aged 15-19 years, and attending a vocational training center based in the Gaza Strip. Adolescents completed the Child Maltreatment Schedule and the Ways of Coping Scale (WAYS). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was completed by adolescents and by their teachers.


RESULTS
Findings revealed high rates of emotional and physical maltreatment. Reliance on emotion-focused or avoidant coping strategies was associated with exposure to maltreatment. Use of maladaptive coping also predicted emotional difficulties in the respondents.


CONCLUSIONS
Coping strategies are an important indicator of psychosocial functioning in adolescents who have experienced maltreatment. Identification of coping styles can augment the assessment of at-risk adolescents. Emotion-focused strategies, in particular, appear to be widely used by young people from non-Western cultural backgrounds.
Thabet
Abdel Aziz Mousa
AA
Faculty of Public Health, Al-Quds University, Gaza, Gaza Strip, Palestine.
Tischler
Victoria
V
Vostanis
Panos
P
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008877:Middle East