Parental Treatment & Mental Health of Personality

One of the most important objectives of health psychology is to promote peoples mental health. Mental health is a decisive factor in the daily well-being of the individual, improving their own quality of life as well as that of those in their direct social environment. Some of the important criteria of mental health include a high level of subjective well-being of the individual, adequate coping strategy, an ability to overcome tensions, an ability of self-expression and social support. The emergence of these abilities are in close relationship with socialisation of the individual in the family, the treatment the individual receives from their parents. A number of studies have been produced on the connections between parental attitudes and mental disturbances. Traumas experienced in childhood, ignorance on the side of the parents or inadequate parental attitudes play an important role in the emergence of psycho-pathological syndromes and dysfunctional behaviour in adulthood, especially if the effects of family socialisation are boosted by the genetic vulnerability of the individual. All these point to the necessity of being familiar with the psycho-social factors that constitute mental health and help in its preservation, as this knowledge is indispensable both for effective cure and effective prevention. The common objective of the studies summarising the research in health psychology and included in this volume is to survey the risk and protective factors related to mental health among non-clinical young people (college students). The factors discussed include, among others, family socialisation, parental attitudes and circumstances that threaten mental health as well as those that serve as protective and preventive elements for mental health.