Childhood abuse affects emotional closeness with family in mid- and later life

In my end is my beginning: developmental trajectories of adverse childhood experiences to late-life suicide

“…Childhood emotional and physical abuse predicted indices of family closeness in middle-aged adults (Savla et al, 2013). Wilson et al (2006) found that ACE (e.g., sexual, physical and emotional abuse, family dysfunction, parental psychopathology, substance abuse and family separations) were associated with less adaptive psychosocial functioning in older age.…”

Loneliness among men and women – a five-year follow-up study

“…According to the attachment theory, recurrent failure to obtain support from attachment figures and to sustain a sense of security, promote an insecure attachment style, and reduce resilience in coping with stressful life events. A negative view about one's self worth and support from others may hinder the regulation of intimate relationships in later life (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2012;Savla et al, 2013).…”

“…Further, when focusing on life events, these longitudinal studies usually include only later life events. However, several studies have documented that (adverse) early life events are associated with a variety of social and psychological problems, which sometimes appear to persist into old age (Gershon, Sudheimer, Tirouvanziam, Williams, & O'Hara, 2013;Savla et al, 2013). Studies have not been able to associate specific types of events uniquely to specific disorders, rather the risk is non-specific (Gershon et al, 2013).…”

Early Life Adversity and Adult Biological Risk Profiles

“…The quality of adult social relationships may be a mechanism through which childhood circumstances influence adult health. Children who grow up with abusive or neglectful parents have less stable, supportive, and satisfying social relationships later in life (28–31). Growing up with divorced parents also has long-run implications for marriage outcomes and social networks (32, 33).…”