The Relationship Between Mental Health and The Quality of Life among Abused Children 7 to 12 Years Old: Moderating effect of Perceived Social Support

Introduction: Child abuse and misconduct with children have adverse effects on their growth and health and  consequences such as anxiety, depression, risk of suicide, antisocial behavior and drug abuse. One of the important components that  affects mental health is social support. Social protection, as one of the critical factors, can decrease the development of mental illness and improve mental health status. It means the more  social support increases, the more the level of health increases and vice versa. Life quality is one of the factors which affects abused child’s quality of life . The world health organization defines the quality of life as an individual’s perception of their position in life in the content of culture and value system in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. Given the importance of quality of life and the perception of social support for mental health,  this study investigates the moderating role of perceived social support on the relationship between mental health and the life quality of abused children. Method: This  is a  descriptive –correlation study. The  statistical populaion of study included all abused children 7 to 12 years old at Torbat Haidarieh city. The sample size of the study included sixty abused children whose have file and record in social emergency section and have been experiencing one type of child abuse such as negligence, physical and sexual. They were chosen as whole-count. Three questionnaires of perceived social support of family, mental health and life quality were used to collect data for this research. The Kolmogorov- Smironov test was used to determine the normal distribution of data. Then, to examine the relationship between mental health and life quality, Pearson correlation coefficient was used. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to investigate the moderating role of social support on the relationship  between mental health and life quality. Findings: Findings indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between mental health and quality of life (r = .63, p <.0001). It means that with the increase of mental health, the  quality of life increases. Hierarchical regression analysis also indicates that the combined effect of mental health and perceived social support is significant. So, perceived social support has a moderating role in the relationship between mental health and quality of life. In the next step,  follow up tests (Post hoc probing) method were used to show that in what circumstances the perceived social support variable (when perceived social support is high and when perceived social support is low) has moderating role. Therefore, once the combined effect of high perceived social support and mental health and once again the combined effect of low perceived social support and mental health were analyzed (follow up tests -post hoc probing). It became clear when quality of life is low, but social support is high, mental health is high. Also, when the quality of life is high, but social support is low, mental health is low. Discussion: The results of the study showed that with increasing mental health, quality of life also increases. Concerning the moderating variable of perceived social support, the results also indicate that perceived social support has a moderating role in the relationship between mental health and quality of life. In general, social support is a protective factor against the harmful effects of various types of stress. The perception of social support creates positive relationships, problem-solving skills, and protection skills against emotional and behavioral problems. Social support is considered as an important factor among adult victims and abused children and reduces the psychological effects of stressful injuries, as well as facilitates emotional and cognitive functioning among victims of abuse.