Betrayed? That’s Me: Implicit and Explicit Betrayed Self-Concept in Young Adults Abused as Children

Abstract

Attenuated awareness of betrayal, or "betrayal blindness," is a proposed survival mechanism in relationships where awareness of betrayal will mobilize confront-or-withdraw responses that jeopardize a needed relationship. Empirical tests of betrayal blindness and its effects are hampered by the methodological conundrum of how to measure an absence of awareness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of a novel empirical method to measure implicit betrayed self-concept, the first step in a long-term research aim to operationalize "betrayal blindness." Informed by betrayal trauma theory, we hypothesized that a history of betrayal within close childhood relationships (but not recent close relationships or "not-close" relationships) would predict implicit betrayed-self associations in young adulthood. We designed an adaptation of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and measured implicit and explicit betrayedself associations and self-reported history of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse in 529 university undergraduates. Internal consistency reliability of the betrayed self IAT was low but adequate. Hierarchical regression modeling revealed that history of abuse within close childhood relationships (but not recent close relationships or "not-close" relationships) predicted betrayedself IAT scores. The effect size was small, β = .12, p < .05, 95% CI [.01, .07], R 2 = .12. In addition, history of betrayal by someone close (but not someone "not close") at any age predicted increased explicit evaluations of the self as betrayed versus respected, a small effect size, R 2 = .16. Findings indicate that implicit betrayed self-concept can be measured empirically.

Implicit Cognition and Psychopathology: Looking Back and Looking Forward

“…For example, one study found that a self + traumatization IAT predicted PTSD symptoms over and above the extent of trauma exposure and explicit cognitive measures (Lindgren et al 2013b). In line with this finding, as assessed by an IAT, trauma frequency and severity may be associated with stronger implicit associations of violence + negativity (Bluemke et al 2017), self + anxiety and self + depression ( Johnson et al 2011, van Harmelen et al 2010, and self + betrayal (Delker & Freyd 2017). Surprisingly, for participants who experienced prior sexual abuse, relatively greater sex + aggression associations on an IAT were negatively associated with past trauma frequency and current effects of trauma (Reed et al 2011).…”

The memory and identity theory of ICD-11 complex posttraumatic stress disorder.

“…Veterans with posttraumatic disorders, for example, frequently report disillusionment with human nature and being alienated from the civilian world (Brewin et al, 2011). Alienation is strongly associated with posttraumatic symptoms in survivors of many different kinds of trauma (McIlveen et al, 2020), as is being betrayed by caregivers and those in authority (Delker & Freyd, 2017; Finkelhor & Browne, 1985; Smith & Freyd, 2014).…”

Relational self-evaluations in dissociation: Implicit self-rejection?

“…Although research has found evidence of a link between negative self-association and childhood interpersonal trauma, the link is weak (e.g., Cohen’s d = .12; Van Harmelen et al, 2010). Others have reported that traumatization does not correlate with negative self-associations (Engelhard et al, 2007; Lindgren et al, 2013) or that the link might be masked when various adverse relational experiences are not differentiated and controlled for in the analysis (Delker & Freyd, 2017). Notably, an inverse correlation was found between child physical abuse and a self-disgust association (Rüsch et al, 2011).…”