Emotion Dysregulation in Sexually Abused Preschoolers: Insights from a Story Completion Task

Abstract

Child sexual abuse (CSA) during the preschool period can seriously undermine children's ability to develop emotional competency (Cicchetti & Toth, 1995). Narrative tasks, such as the MacArthur Story Stem Battery (MSSB), are particularly adapted to gain a better understanding of young children's self-regulation processes (Holmberg et al., 2007). To explore the emotion regulation competencies of sexually abused preschoolers, we developed a coding grid and undertook a detailed analysis of abused and non-abused children's narratives using the MSSB (Bretherton & Oppenheim, 2003). A sample of 62 sexually abused and 65 non-abused preschoolers 3½ to 6½ years old was recruited (M = 4.29 years, SD = .92) and children were presented with nine stories and an expressive vocabulary test (Brownell, 2000). Analyses were performed to compare abused and non-abused children's narratives and to assess the contribution of CSA to children's narratives. CSA was associated with fewer demonstrations of empathy, help, and comfort, and less coherent and resolved stories. The narratives of CSA victims also included less emotions and emotional variations. The influence of CSA appeared the strongest in the stories involving fear. These findings suggest the presence of emotion dysregulation among sexually abused preschoolers, but also insecure attachment, as well as a sense of betrayal, isolation, and powerlessness.

Maternal History of Child Sexual Abuse and Maladaptive Outcomes in Sexually Abused Children: The Role of Maternal Mental Health

“…Dissociation was defined by Spiegel and Cardena (1991) as "a structured compartmentalization of mental processes (e.g., thoughts, emotions, conation, memory, and identity) that are typically integrated" and is known to have long lasting deleterious consequences on multiple domains of children 's functioning (e.g., school, interpersonal;Silberg, 2014). Consistent with the CPTSD model, other consequences have been documented in sexually abused children (e.g., emotional dysregulation, sleep problems, insecure attachment patterns, somatic complaints; e.g., Charest et al, 2019;Langevin et al, 2019) but given the centrality of behavior problems and dissociation and their deleterious impacts on developmental trajectories (e.g., Colman et al, 2007;Reef et al, 2010), these will be the focus of the current investigation. Notably, a literature review concluded that 10%-53% of sexually abused children do not present difficulties following the abuse (Domhardt et al, 2015).…”

“…Intergenerational cycles of CSA warrant independent examinations given the unique nature of this form of maltreatment, including the fact that perpetrator is not necessarily a caregiver and the unique traumagenic dynamics of sexualization, betrayal, stigmatization, and powerlessness involved ( Finkelhor & Browne, 1985 ). Cycles of CSA, as compared to other forms of maltreatment, are understudied ( Langevin et al, 2019 ). While our study does not allow to identify mechanisms of intergenerational continuity of CSA, it will fill some important gaps in the literature and further our understanding of the mechanisms involved in the associations between maternal history of CSA and sexually abused children’s outcomes.…”

Intergenerational Continuity of Child Sexual Abuse: Comparison of Mother and Emerging Adult Dyads

“…Childhood trauma is an experience that has lasting and substantial psychosocial and somatic impacts on a child including on school functioning (e.g., lower grades, educational attainment) (Mitchell et al, 2021), attachment styles (Cyr et al, 2010), and emotion regulation (Langevin et al, 2020). Mental health problems, such as symptoms of anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and post-traumatic stress are common following CSA (Gardner et al, 2019;Langevin et al, 2022).…”

Ergenlerde Kendine Zarar Verme Davranışı, Çocukluk Çağı Örselenme Yaşantıları ve Duygu Düzenleme Becerileri: Olgu Kontrol Çalışması*

“…Örselenme yaşantıları üzerine yapılan çalışmalar, bu olumsuz deneyimlerin bireylerin yaşantılarında olumlu benlik algısının zedelenmesi, kaygı bozuklukları, madde kullanımı, disosiasyon, öfke problemleri, kişilik bozuklukları, yeme bozuklukları, obsesif kompulsif bozukluk, travma sonrası stres bozukluğu, somatizasyon, kişiler arası ilişkilerde problemler, psikolojik iyilik halinin bozulması ve depresif belirtileri artması gibi etkilerinin olduğunu göstermektedir [15][16][17] . KZVD de bu etkiler arasında yer almaktadır 17 .…”