INTERNALIZING AND EXTERNALIZING SYMPTOMS IN CHILDREN OF PSYCHIATRICALLY ILL PARENTS

Fazaila Sabih¹, Anis ul Haque², Asia Mushtaq³, Adnan Sohail⁴, Bushra Musawar⁵

¹Assistant Professor Department of Behavioral Sciences & Psychiatry IIMC-T, Riphah International University Islamabad.

²Professor, National Institute of Psychology (NIP), Centre of Excellence, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

³National Institute of Psychology (NIP), Centre of Excellence, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

⁴Consultant Psychiatrist, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Hospital Islamabad.

⁵Foundation University Islamabad.

Correspondence: Fazaila Sabih,; fazaila.sabih@riphah.edu.pk

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To calculate frequency of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in adolescent children of psychiatrically disturbed parents.

DESIGN: Cross sectional study

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: The study was carried out at Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Hospital Islamabad during June 2014 to October 2014.

METHODOLOGY: Sample included 128 adolescents divided into two groups. Group I comprised of adolescents (49) whose parents have psychiatric illness and the group II include the adolescents (79) whose parents have no history of psychiatric illness. The purposive sampling technique was used to select sample. The youth Self Report was used to assess internalizing and externalizing symptoms in adolescents.

RESULTS: Results showed a high percentage (61.9%) of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in adolescent children of psychiatrically ill parents as compared to adolescent children of parents with no psychiatric illness (27.9%). Adolescent girls reported more internalizing symptoms than the boys. They also reported overall higher percentage of emotional and behavioral problems. Results also revealed that late adolescent group reported more internalizing and externalizing problems relative to early and middle adolescent groups.

CONCLUSION: The findings reveal that adolescent children of psychiatrically children are at increased risk of experiencing emotional and behavioral problems and draw mental health professionals’ attention to address this issue with robust clinical intervention programs.

KEYWORDS: Internalizing and externalizing symptoms, Adolescent, Psychiatrically ill parents.