Background. Several studies in Asia have indicated that orphaned children are at higher risk to develop mental illness. A study in Bangladesh found that 40.35% of orphaned children are at risk of developing mental illness. Although the risk of mental illness among orphaned children in Indonesia is still unknown; considering there is a large number of orphaned children in Indonesia, this causes of a great concern. The data indicated that 90 percent of orphaned children in Indonesia are considered paternal/maternal orphans (still have one parent), but they live in the orphanages. These children were sent to live in the orphanages because their parents are not able to provide adequate food, shelter and education. Although parents have a good intention, some of these children might view it as a rejection. Study on parental acceptance-rejection showed that parental rejection contributes to the development of mental illness in children. Thus, this study is interested in investigating the effect of parental acceptance-rejection on mental illness among orphaned adolescents in Indonesia. This study will also identify which dimension of the parental acceptance-rejection has the most effect on the development of mental illness. Here are the research questions:

1. Does children’s perception of parental warmth/affection predict the risk of mental illness in orphaned adolescents?
2. Does children’s perception of parental hostility/aggression predict the risk of mental illness in orphaned adolescents?
3. Does children’s perception of parental indifference/neglect predict the risk of mental illness in orphaned adolescents?
4. Does children’s perception of parental undifferentiated rejection predict the risk of mental illness in orphaned adolescents?

Methods. This is a quantitative study with cross-sectional design. There were 70 orphaned adolescents between the aged of 12-18 participated in this study. The participants were selected using a non-random purposive sampling method. They were recruited from Nurul Iman orphanage. The Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ) and the Youth Outcome Questionnaire–Self-Report (YOQ-SR) were used to collect the data.  PARQ is a self-report questionnaire that measured an individual’s perception of parental warmth/rejection.  It consists of four domains: warmth/affection, hostility/aggression, indifference/neglect, and undifferentiated rejection. YOQ-SR is also a self-report questionnaire used to detect clinical problems in youth. It consists of six domains: intrapersonal distress, somatic problem, interpersonal relationship, social problem, behavioral dysfunction, and critical item. The data was analyzed using multiple regressions.

Results. The demographic data indicated that participants of this study consist of 48.6% males and 51.4% females; 54.3% between the aged of 12-15 and 45.7% between the aged of 16-18; and 41.4% are middle school students and 58.6% are high school students. The length of the stay in orphanage consists of less than a year (41.43%), between 1-3 years (41.43%) and 17.14% more than three years. Further, the results showed that there is a positive correlation between the four parental acceptance/rejection dimensions with the risk of mental illness. However, only the dimension of undifferentiated rejection showed relatively strong correlation (β = 0,641).  Further, it indicated that only 9.5% risk of mental illness could be explained by warmth/affection dimension; 16.6% by hostility/aggression dimension, 19.7% by indifference/neglect dimension, and 41.1% by undifferentiated rejection dimension.

Conclusion. This study concluded that children’s perception of parental warmth correlated positively with the risk of mental illness in orphaned adolescents in Nurul Iman orphanage. Participants who perceived their parents as warm, caring, loving and supportive are at a lower risk for developing mental illness. Whereas, participants who viewed their parents as hostile, neglected and rejected are at a higher risk for developing mental illness. However, the undifferentiated rejection is the only dimension that has a strong correlation with mental health risk. Undifferentiated rejection is a child’s perception of being neglected or rejected, whereas, the evidence of neglect or rejection is difficult to indicate. Therefore, children’s perceptions of parental warmth/rejection contribute to the development of mental illness. This implies that perception is very powerful. This study also revealed that female, middle school students and early adolescent orphans have a higher tendency to develop mental illness. They are identified as a vulnerable population in this orphanage.

Added Value. This study provides additional understanding of mental illness on orphaned adolescents in Indonesia.

Contribution to the society. This study provides caregivers with the risk of mental illness among orphaned children in the orphanage.

Keywords: Parental warmth, mental illness, orphaned adolescents.

Word count: 700 words