Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Their Relationship with Self-esteem Among School-Age Children in Jordan

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Child Psychiatry & Human Development Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences and their relationship with self-esteem among secondary school students in Jordan. A cross-sectional, retrospective design was utilized using a convenience sample of 559 secondary school children (grades 7–11). Results showed that among the participating students, emotional abuse was the most commonly reported type of abuse (59.6%), followed by household violence (52.2%), bullying (44.7%), physical abuse (31.7%), emotional neglect (26.3), physical neglect (12.7%), and parents’ separation (5.2%). Male students reported significantly more physical abuse than female students (37.5% vs 26.2%, p < 0.001), and significantly more physical neglect than female students (18.2% vs 7.6%, p < 0.001). However, female students reported significantly more household violence than male student (60.0% vs 43.9%, p < 0.001). Self-esteem scores were lower for students who reported physical abuse (d = 0.38, p < 0.001), household violence (d = 0.25, p < 0.003), emotional neglect (d = 0.45, p < 0.001), physical neglect (d = 0.58, p < 0.001), and bullying (d = 0.29, p = 0.001). Self-esteem was best predicted by physical abuse (β =  − 0.114, p = 0.009), emotional neglect (β =  − 0.169, p < 0.001), and physical neglect (β =  − 0.148, p < 0.001). Efforts should be exerted to prevent violence against children. National programs and community awareness campaigns should focus on the violence’s detrimental effects on children.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

Data will be available upon request.

References

  1. WHO (2018) Violence against children. WHO https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-children

  2. UNICEF (2019) Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) study: research on adverse childhood experiences in Serbia. UNICEF in Serbia, Belgrade

    Google Scholar 

  3. Hillis S, Mercy J, Amobi A, Kress H (2016) Global prevalence of past-year violence against children: a systematic review and minimum estimates. Pediatrics 137(3):e20154079

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Frederick J, Goddard C (2010) ‘School was just a nightmare’: childhood abuse and neglect and school experiences. Child Fam Soc Work 15(1):22–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Garrido EF, Weiler LM, Taussig HN (2018) Adverse childhood experiences and health-risk behaviors in vulnerable early adolescents. J Early Adolesc 38(5):661–680

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Pearce J, Murray C, Larkin W (2019) Childhood adversity and trauma: experiences of professionals trained to routinely enquire about childhood adversity. Heliyon 5(7):e01900

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Merrick MT, Ports KA, Ford DC, Afifi TO, Gershoff ET, Grogan-Kaylor A (2017) Unpacking the impact of adverse childhood experiences on adult mental health. Child Abuse Negl 69:10

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Kazarian SS (2015) Family violence in the Arab world = . Arab J Psychiatry 26(1):4–14

  9. Almuneef M, ElChoueiry N, Saleheen HN, Al-Eissa M (2017) Gender-based disparities in the impact of adverse childhood experiences on adult health: findings from a national study in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Int J Equity Health 16(1):90

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Al-Fayez GA, Ohaeri JU, Gado OM (2012) Prevalence of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse among a nationwide sample of Arab high school students: association with family characteristics, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, and quality of life. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 47(1):53–66

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Karakus Ö (2012) Abuse and self esteem. Int J Hum Sci 9(2)

  12. Miller AB, Esposito-smythers C, Weismoore JT, Renshaw KD (2014) The relation between child maltreatment and adolescent suicidal behavior: a systematic review and critical examination of the literature. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 16(2):146–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Gateway CWI (2019) Long-term consequences of child abuse and neglect [Fact sheet]. U.S, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  14. Khodabandeh F, Khalilzadeh M, Hemati Z (2018) The impact of adverse childhood experiences on adulthood aggression and self-esteem-a study on male forensic clients. Nov Biomed 6:85

    Google Scholar 

  15. Mwakanyamale AA, Yizhen Y (2019) Psychological maltreatment and its relationship with self-esteem and psychological stress among adolescents in Tanzania: a community based, cross-sectional study. BMC Psychiatry 19(1):1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Huang H, Hong JS, Espelage DL (2013) Understanding factors associated with bullying and peer victimization in chinese schools within ecological contexts. J Child Fam Stud 22(7):881–892

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Andersen LP, Labriola M, Andersen JH, Lund T, Hansen CD (2015) Bullied at school, bullied at work: a prospective study. BMC Psychol 3(1):1–5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Folayan MO, Oginni O, Arowolo O, El Tantawi M (2020) Internal consistency and correlation of the adverse childhood experiences, bully victimization, self-esteem, resilience, and social support scales in Nigerian children. BMC Res Notes 13(1):1–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Spade J (2007) The relationship between student bullying behaviors and self-esteem. Leadersh. Stud. Ed.D. Diss

  20. Kim J, Cicchetti D (2006) Longitudinal trajectories of self-system processes and depressive symptoms among maltreated and nonmaltreated children. Child Dev 77(3):624–639

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Jenny C (2015) Chil abuse and neglect: diagnosis, treatment, and evidence. Child Youth Serv Rev 26:1097

    Google Scholar 

  22. Al-Arab AR (2011) Violence against children from the parents point of view in rural society: forms and effects . Repository Yu Edu Jo 27(2):1764–1778

  23. Shaffer A, Yates TM, Egeland BR (2009) The relation of emotional maltreatment to early adolescent competence: developmental processes in a prospective study. Child Abuse Negl 33(1):36–44

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Muris P, Otgaar H, Meesters C, Heutz A, van den Hombergh M (2019) Self-compassion and adolescents’ positive and negative cognitive reactions to daily life problems. J Child Fam Stud 28(5):1433–1444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Bolger KE, Patterson CJ, Kupersmidt JB (1998) Peer relationships and self-esteem among children who have been maltreated. Child Dev 69(4):1171–1197

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Juffer F, Van Ijzendoorn MH (2007) Adoptees do not lack self-esteem: a meta-analysis of studies on self-esteem of transracial, international, and domestic adoptees. Psychol Bull 133(6):1067–1083

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Department of Statistics (DOS) (2019) Jordan Population and Family Health Survey 2017–18. Department of Statistics/Jordan and ICF, Amman

    Google Scholar 

  28. Butt AI (2018) Changing norms and behaviours to end physcial violence against children in Jordan 2019–2021

  29. Al-Khatib AJ (2020) A Comprehensive review of research on child abuse in Jordan. Child Care Pract 28:125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Cohen J (1988) Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences, 2nd editio. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New York

    Google Scholar 

  31. WHO (2020) Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ). WHO https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/adverse-childhood-experiences-international-questionnaire-(ace-iq. Accessed 28 Aug 2021

  32. Rosenberg M (1965) Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  33. Kidman R, Smith D, Piccolo LR, Kohler HP (2019) Psychometric evaluation of the Adverse Childhood Experience International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ) in Malawian adolescents. Child Abus Negl 92:139–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. World Health Organization (2015) WHO guidelines on translation and adaptation of instruments. WHO, Geneva, pp 4–7

    Google Scholar 

  35. Oweis A, Gharaibeh M, Alhourani R (2010) Rosenberg self-esteem scale--modified Arabic version [Database record]. Am Psychol Assoc

  36. WHO (2018) Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ) guidance for analysing ACE-IQ. Child Abuse Negl 88:179

    Google Scholar 

  37. Duke NN, Pettingell SL, Mcmorris BJ, Borowsky IW (2010) Adolescent violence perpetration: associations with multiple types of adverse childhood experiences. Pediatrics 125(4):e778

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Mrug S, Windle M (2010) Prospective effects of violence exposure across multiple contexts on early adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 51(8):953–961

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Elarousy W, Al-Jadaani M (2013) Emotional abuse among children: a study in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

  40. Al-Zboon E, Ahmad J, Al-Dababneh K (2015) Prevalence and types of childhood abuse among special education students attending Jordanian Universities. Int J Adolesc Youth 21(4):476–485

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Al-Modallal H, Al-Omari H, Hamaideh S, Shehab T (2020) Childhood domestic violence as an ancestor for adulthood mental health problems: experiences of Jordanian women. Fam J 28(4):390–395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Lo CKM et al (2019) Prevalence of child maltreatment and its association with parenting style: a population study in Hong Kong. Int J Environ Res Public Health 16(7):1130

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  43. J Department of statistics Amman and D. Program (2017) Jordan Population and Family Health Survey

  44. Laurenzi CA et al (2020) Associations between young children’s exposure to household violence and behavioural problems: evidence from a rural Kenyan sample. Glob Public Health 15(2):173–184

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Shaheen AM, Hammad S, Haourani EM, Nassar OS (2018) Factors affecting Jordanian school adolescents’ experience of being bullied. J Pediatr Nurs 38:e66–e71

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Shaheen A, Nassar O, Saleh M, Arabiat D (2014) Understanding of school related factors associated with emotional health and bullying behavior among jordanian adolescents. Iran J Public Health 43(11):1528–1536

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  47. Hockenberry MJ, Wilson D (2012) Wong’s nursing care of infants and children, vol 106. Elsevier, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  48. Al-Najdawi AM, Kafawin K (2015) search.ebscohost.com, vol. Dirasat: H, pp 1487–1509

  49. Krishan RAL, Al-Wurikat AA (2019) The impact of social factors on child abuse: a case study in AL- Khansa Center. IUG J Hum Res 28(4):205–227

    Google Scholar 

  50. Aras Ş, Özan S, Timbil S, Şemin S, Kasapçi O (2016) Exposure of students to emotional and physical violence in the school environment. Noropsikiyatri Ars 53(4):303–310

    Google Scholar 

  51. Sottile Z (2021) ‘It’s a reality:’ 13 percent of Jordanian children experience severe physical punishment. https://www.jordannews.jo/Section-109/News/It-s-a-reality-13-percent-of-Jordanian-children-experience-severe-physical-punishment-4490. Accessed 12 Feb 2022

  52. Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children (2017) Briefing on Jordan for the Human Rights Committee, Country Report Task Force. In: 119th Session (Mar 2017)

  53. Soares ALG, Howe LD, Matijasevich A, Wehrmeister FC, Menezes AMB, Gonçalves H (2016) Adverse childhood experiences: Prevalence and related factors in adolescents of a Brazilian birth cohort. Child Abus Negl 51:21–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Stoltenborgh M, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, Van Ijzendoorn MH (2013) The neglect of child neglect: a meta-analytic review of the prevalence of neglect. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 48:345

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. Gonçalves H et al (2016) Adverse childhood experiences and consumption of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs among adolescents of a Brazilian birth cohort. Cad Saude Publica 32(10):1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Meinck F, Cosma AP, Mikton C, Baban A (2017) Psychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Abuse Short Form (ACE-ASF) among Romanian high school students. Child Abus Negl 72:326–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Bankole ET, Arowosegbe CK (2014) Effect of child abuse on self-esteem among secondary schools students in Ekiti State (case study of Iworoko community high school). Int J Hum Soc Sci Educ 1(12):2349

    Google Scholar 

  58. Asscher JJ, Van der Put CE, Stams GJJM (2015) Gender differences in the impact of abuse and neglect victimization on adolescent offending behavior. J Fam Violence 30(2):215–225

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  59. Afifi TO, Taillieu T, Cheung K, Katz LY, Tonmyr L, Sareen J (2015) Substantiated reports of child maltreatment from the Canadian incidence study of reported child abuse and neglect 2008: examining child and household characteristics and child functional impairment. Can J Psychiatry 60(7):315–323

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  60. Hagborg JM, Tidefors I, Fahlke C (2017) Gender differences in the association between emotional maltreatment with mental, emotional, and behavioral problems in Swedish adolescents. Child Abus Negl 67:249–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Chapman DP, Whitfield CL, Felitti VJ, Dube SR, Edwards VJ, Anda RF (2004) Adverse childhood experiences and the risk of depressive disorders in adulthood. J Affect Disord 82:217–225

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  62. Kumpulainen K, Karelia S (1998) Bullying and psychiatric symptoms among elementary school-age children. Child Abuse Negl 22(7):705–717

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. Baumeister RF (1982) Self-esteem, self-presentation, and future Interaction: a dilemma of reputation. J Pers 50(1):29–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by Jordan university of Science and Technology/ Deanship of Research [Research Grant No: 20190431].

Funding

The funding source had no role other than financial support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Maternal & Child Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Jordan University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box (3030), Irbid, 22110, Jordan

    Khulood Kayed Shattnawi & Ya’la Mahmoud Ma’abreh

  2. Community and Mental Health Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, 22110, Jordan

    Nahla Al Ali

Authors
  1. Khulood Kayed Shattnawi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nahla Al Ali
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ya’la Mahmoud Ma’abreh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Khulood Kayed Shattnawi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Authors have no competing interests to declare.

Ethical Approval

Ethical approvals were obtained from all involved parties. After obtaining ethical approval, students who assented to participate in the study received a cover letter explaining the purpose and outcomes of the study. Parental written approval was also obtained.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shattnawi, K.K., Al Ali, N. & Ma’abreh, Y.M. Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Their Relationship with Self-esteem Among School-Age Children in Jordan. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 55, 60–70 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01378-9

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01378-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation