Relações familiares, cognições disfuncionais e problemas emocionais e comportamentais de crianças e adolescentes

Abstract

The world's interest in the theme of childhood dates back centuries. Despite this, only in 1990 the Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA) was created, ensuring their rights and protection. Treatments directed to this age group were also developed, as the example of the adaptation of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy to the infant/juvenile public from the 1980s. According to a study published in 2015, the worldwide prevalence of mental disorders in adolescents was 13.4%, which demonstrates the importance of directing attention to this issue. Considering that many studies associate the development of children's and adolescents' mental disorders to the negative interactions that exist between family members, the present Dissertation work sought to better understand how family relations interact with two other aspects: children’s dysfunctional cognitions and their emotional and behavioral problems (EBP). Results were reported through two articles. The first article summarized and analyzed results of family influence on adolescents’ dysfunctional cognitions. Literature researches occurred in October 2018, in the Virtual Health Library (VHL), PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and PsycINFO databases. A total of 2,015 studies were found, of which 21 met inclusion criteria (use of quantitative methodology, performance of analysis that related family factors to adolescents’ cognitions, and presence of adolescents only or older children and adolescents in the sample) and were selected. Results pointed to the negative influence of family malfunction on adolescents’ dysfunctional cognitions, but also to the protective role of this system in relation to infant/ juvenile psychopathologies and the development of positive cognitions. Onethird of the studies analyzed the role of mediation of adolescents’ cognitions in the relationship between the family and their children’s emotional and behavioral outcomes. This mediating relationship was verified in the second article, which aimed to investigate the influence of family relationships on children’s and adolescents’ dysfunctional cognitions and EBP, and to verify the mediating role of cognitions in the relationship between family and children's problems. 378 children and adolescents between 10 and 16 years old (average = 12.48; sd = 1.26) participated in the study. They completed the instruments Familiogram, Cognitive Triad Inventory for Children (ITC-CA), Children's Automatic Thoughts Scale (EPA), Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale for Children (DAS-C), Child Depression Inventory (CDI) and Youth Self-Report (YSR). Data were analyzed using Pearson Correlation, Student's t-test for Independent Samples, One-Way Analysis of Variance (one-way ANOVA) and Linear Regression. Results pointed to the effect of family conflict on dysfunctional cognitions and EBP, and cognitions mediated the relationship between the other two variables. The findings of this Dissertation bring contributions to research in the area of Cognitive- Behavioral Therapy, family and adolescence and clinical implications are discussed in each of the articles.