Recall of childhood neglect and physical abuse as differential predictors of current psychological functioning

The Cultural Reinforcers of Child Abuse

“…Children with history of neglect or physical abuse are at risk of developing psychiatric problems (Gauthier, Stollak, Messe, and Aronoff, 1996;Malinosky-Rummell, and Hansen, 1993), or a disorganized attachment style (Lyons-Ruth and Jacobvitz, 1999;Solomon and George, 1999;Main and Hesse, 1990) that is associated with a number of developmental problems, including dissociative symptoms, as well as anxiety, depressive and acting out symptoms. Further, a study by Cicchetti (1990) found that 80% of abused and maltreated infants exhibited symptoms of disorganized attachment, and when some of these children become parents, especially if they suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder, dissociative symptoms and other sequelae of child abuse, they may encounter difficulty when faced with their infant and young children's needs and normative stress, which may in turn lead to adverse consequences for their child's social-emotional development.…”

Child abuse, dissociation, and core beliefs in bulimic disorders

“…There was also a dimensional relationship between severity of neglect and severity of dissociation, which concurs with existing studies (Sanders & Giolas, 1991;van der Kolk, Perry, & Herman, 1991) of other psychiatric samples. Gauthier, Stollak, Messe, and Aronoff (1996) have recently argued that neglect is likely to be associated with greater pathology than more active abuse because it is the equivalent of total psychological abandonment. The present finding supports that proposal, indicating that neglect is the form of abuse most strongly associated with dissociation in bulimic women.…”

The Developmental Psychopathology of Personality Disorders

“…Our review of the literature identified eight studies that obtained evidence of an association between childhood maltreatment and risk for the development of avoidant PD. As seen in Table 15.2, evidence from retrospective studies (Arbel & Stravynski, 1991;Carter et al, 1999;Gauthier, Stollak, Messé, & Aronoff, 1996;Grilo & Masheb, 2002;Ruggiero et al, 1999;Shea, Zlotnick, & Weisberg, 1999) has indicated that individuals with avoidant PD are more likely than those with other personality disorders to report a history of childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, or any childhood neglect.…”