The Comparison of Early Maladaptive Schemas and Perceived Stress between Iranian Single-Parent and Single-Child Adolescents

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Thefamily is a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household. Adolescence is one of the most critical developmental stages. Single-parent and single-child phenomena can develop mental health problems in such adolescents. The aim of the study was to compare Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs) and perceived stress between Iranian single-parent adolescents and single-child adolescents. This was an Ex-Post Facto research. The sample was 60 Iranian female adolescents (30 single-parent and 30 single-child) who were selected from the Culture, Hazrat Zahra, and Farzanegan schools at Tehran city. The instruments were the Young-Short Form Schema Questionnaire, and Perceived Stress Scale. Data were analyzed using MANOVA, univariate ANOVA, and independent t-test by the SPSS23 software. There were significant differences between two groups in the EMSs of Emotional Deprivation, Mistrust/Abuse, Vulnerability, Emotional Inhibition, Unrelenting Standards, and Insufficient Self-Discipline (p<0.05). There was a significant difference between two groups in perceived stress (p<0.001). The single-parent adolescents showed more EMSs and higher perceived stress than single-child adolescents. The conditions of single-parent adolescents can lead to mental health problems. They should be considered as a high-risk group for the development of psychiatric disorders.

Thefamily is the first founder of personality, values, emotions, intellectual, and moral standards. Today, children and teens may not have one of parents in their life. In a single-guardian family, there is only one of the parents and the guardianship of child is left with another parent. Factors of single-guardian family may include death, and divorce. Also adopted children who were born without marriage of their parents together, may live in a single-guardian family. Since a child has certain emotional needs in any of his developmental stage; a parent cannot solve them lonely. So the reactions are different at any age stage. In higher ages, the first reaction of children toward a parent’s death or divorce includes a mourning period. Because teens sometimes have tensions with their parents, additional to mourning, they are blamed themselves and constantly imagine that they were not a good offspring, so they lost their parents. Given the fact that teens are looking for identity and autonomy, they likely less pattern from their parents, tend to peers, or under influence of adults who are interested in them. Therefore, it is difficult for parents who are alone to raise their offsprings.