The relationship between self-esteem and childhood abuse, life events among violent male adolescents

Objective To study the relationship between self-esteem and childhood abuse, life events among male violent adolescent. Methods According to the modified overt aggression scale, juvenile delinquents were divided into violent group (n = 128 )and nonviolent group (n = 118 ). All the participants were investigated by Self-Esteem Scale (SES), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-28 Item Short Form (CTQ-SF) and Adolescent SelfRating Life Events (ASLEC) and conducted correlation and regression analysis. Results ①Violent group had lower self-esteem scores ( 22.73 ± 3.30 ) than the nonviolent group ( 23.81 ± 3.30, P ＜ 0.05 ). Violent group had higher scores in physical abuse, sexual abuse, total life events, interpersonal relationship, punishment, and other (8.30 ±4.07, 7.23 ±2.26, 54.48 ±18.60, 10.09 ±3.84, 14.43 ±5.87, 4.93 ±3.15, 9.93 ±3.64), compared to the nonviolent group (7.27 ± 3.27, 6.60 ± 2.09, 45.40 ± 18.45, 8.42 ± 4.13, 11.07 ± 5.75, 3.66 ±2.81, 7.84 ±3.66, P＜0. 05). ②The self-esteem was significantly negative correlated with the childhood abuse and life events( r= -0. 143 ～ -0. 358, P＜ 0.01 ) among violent male adolescents. ③The physical abuse and punishment had significant prediction function of 15.6% on self-esteem. Conclusions Violent adolescents have low self-esteem, which is closely related to childhood abuse and adolescent life events. Key words: Male adolescent;  Violence;  Self-esteem;  Childhood abuse;  Life events