Childhood adversities and mental health problems: A systematic review

Abstract

The number of mental health problems in children and adolescents has been increasing. One of the causes of mental health problems is trauma in the family, such as childhood adversities. The aim of this study was to review the relationship between childhood adversities and mental health problems. The method in this study was a systematic review using three databases: CINAHL, PubMed, and SCOPUS. The results of the review were reported according to the PRISMA guidelines. The keywords used in this study were mental health or mental illness or mental disorder or psychiatric illness AND adolescents or teenagers or teenagers or youth AND parental divorce or parental separation OR parental death or parental loss or parentally bereaved. The inclusion criteria for the articles were English language and published from 2017 to 2021. This study recorded 477 articles, screened according to the topic, and then the final articles were 35. The results of the systematic review showed evidence that childhood adversities were related to mental health problems according to the ICD-10 diagnosis, ADHD and personality disorders, depression, post-traumatic, smoking behavior, and alcohol abuse, and distress. Interventions for children with childhood adversities were needed to prevent mental health disorders.