Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in Sexually Abused Children: Secure Attachment as a Protective Factor

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the hypothesis that attachment and childhood sexual abuse (CSA) interacted such that school aged CSA survivors with insecure attachment to parents would be at an elevated risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma symptoms. Participants (n = 111, ages 7–12) comprised two groups, child CSA survivors (n = 43) and a matched comparison group of children (n = 68) recruited from the community. Children completed the Child Attachment Interview (CAI) as well as the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC). There was a significant interaction between sexual abuse history and attachment security, such that sexually abused children with insecure attachment representations had significantly more PTSD and trauma symptoms than sexually abused children with secure attachment to parents. The findings show that using a dual lens of attachment and CSA can facilitate the identification of children most at risk and has important implications for understanding risk and resilience processes.

Early Life Adversity and Neuropsychiatric Disease: Differential Outcomes and Translational Relevance of Rodent Models

“…A sizable proportion of individuals exposed to ELA do not seem to differ from the non-ELA population in terms of risk for developing mental health problems. This resilience has been attributed to possible genetic or mitigating environmental factors ( Ensink et al, 2021 ). Even within the affected population of ELA-exposed individuals, considerable variability in the type of psychiatric illness, as well as the types of symptoms exhibited within the diagnostic criteria, exists in the outcome.…”

Child Sexual Abuse Victimization: Focus on Self-Compassion

“…Among juvenile detainees, CSA predicted PTSD symptoms, over and above other forms of trauma ( 17 ), suggesting unique impact of CSA. Lack of safety is salient within an attachment framework for PTSD, with insecure attachment linked with greater PTSD diagnosis and symptoms among children with CSA experiences, compared to those without ( 33 , 34 ). Disrupted mentalizing may underlie self-conceptualization.…”

“…A mentalizing deficit may be a form of inhibition or phobic reaction to mentalizing. In CSA, mentalizing about the self may lag in terms of learning self-compassion from the caregiving environment, with fewer opportunities to practice applying re-appraisal cognitions (positive reframing), or use constructive emotion (loving-kindness) to counteract distress (feeling bad about self) ( 33 ). The view of the self may be directly impacted by repeated perpetrator communications (e.g., telling the child “you are nothing”; “you are a slut”; “you want this” etc.…”

The Relationship between Attachment Styles and Compulsive Online Shopping: The Mediating Roles of Family Functioning Patterns

“…Indeed, insecure attachment plays a key role in both susceptibility [20] and severity [21] of the addiction, and has shown significant associations not only with problematic shopping [22], but also with other behavioral addictions [23], including those related to the Internet and the use of technology [24][25][26][27][28], as well as with alcohol and substance abuse [29,30]. On the other hand, secure attachment represents a protective factor both for addictions (e.g., [26]), and for psychopathological disorders in general (e.g., [31,32]). Furthermore, attachment styles in adults can influence the quality of family relationships [33], another element that has been shown to have weight in relation to the onset of dysfunctional behaviors [34,35].…”