Peer-reviewed article
When care hurts or disappears: The consistency of emotional abuse and neglect and adolescents' internalizing problems: The mediating role of personal and general beliefs in a just world.
Xingfa Long, Xiaohang Wang, Yandong An, Yi Jin, Mengyang Xu et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how emotional abuse and neglect together affect Chinese adolescents' mental health over six months. The research found that when both forms of maltreatment increased together, adolescents experienced more internalizing problems like anxiety and depression. The effect was worse when emotional abuse far exceeded neglect. The study suggests that adolescents' personal belief that the world is just helped protect their mental health, partially explaining why maltreatment harms some adolescents more than others.
Key points
- Combined emotional abuse and neglect increased internalizing problems in adolescents; the effect was strongest when both increased simultaneously
- When emotional abuse and neglect were imbalanced, internalizing problems worsened as the gap widened, especially when abuse exceeded neglect
- Personal belief in a just world partially explained why maltreatment was associated with psychological distress
- Active emotional abuse showed a stronger association with internalizing problems than passive neglect
- Study followed 484 Chinese adolescents aged 11-16 over six months using longitudinal design
Limitations
The study was conducted only with Chinese adolescents, so findings may not generalize to other cultural contexts. The six-month follow-up period is relatively short, limiting understanding of long-term effects of combined maltreatment patterns.
Abstract
Previous research on childhood maltreatment has predominantly focused on the independent effects of emotional abuse (EA) or emotional neglect (EN), providing limited insight into how combinations of these co-occurring subtypes are associated with adolescent adjustment. Based on shattered assumptions theory, this longitudinal study examined how combined patterns of EA and EN were associated with adolescents' internalizing problems, as well as the indirect associations involving personal belief in a just world (PBJW) and general belief in a just world (GBJW). A total of 484 Chinese adolescents (51.03% girls; Mage ± SD = 12.77 ± 0.72, Rangeage = 11-16) were followed over a six-month interval. Polynomial regression and response surface analyses revealed that: (1) when EA and EN increased simultaneously, adolescents reported higher levels of internalizing problems; (2) when EA and EN were imbalanced, internalizing problems became more severe as the discrepancy between them widened, particularly when EA exceeded EN; and (3) PBJW, but not GBJW, accounted for significant indirect associations between joint EA-EN patterns and internalizing problems. These findings reveal the complex role of combined emotional maltreatment experiences in relation to psychological distress and highlight the stronger association of active emotional abuse, relative to passive neglect, with internalizing problems. This study extends the understanding of maltreatment patterns and offers insights for interventions that aim to strengthen adolescents' personal just world beliefs.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Strengthening adolescents' personal belief in a just world to mediate the relationship between maltreatment and psychological distress
- Population
- 484 Chinese adolescents (51.03% girls, mean age 12.77 years, range 11-16)
Key finding
When both emotional abuse and emotional neglect increased simultaneously, adolescents reported higher levels of internalizing problems