CHILD ABUSE AND ADULT ATTACHMENT STYLES The Relationship between Child Abuse and ...

135 Pages·2011·0.32 MB·English

ABUSE AND ATTACHMENT 1
Running Head: CHILD ABUSE AND ADULT ATTACHMENT STYLES
The Relationship between Child Abuse and Adult Attachment Styles
by
Jo Ann M. Unger
A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of
The University of Manitoba
in partial fulfilmentof the requirements of the degree of
DOCTOROF PHILOSOPHY
Department of Psychology
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Copyright © by Jo Ann M. Unger
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Abstract
All forms of child abuse are associated with a variety of short-and long-term negative effects. In
particular, adult victims of child abuse have been known to experience more insecure forms of
attachment to significant others in adulthood (McCarthy & Taylor, 1999; Muller, Lemieux, &
Sicoli, 2001). It was hypothesized that particular forms of child abuse wouldbe associated with
particular forms of insecure attachment in adulthood and that adult attachment style would act as
a mediator between child abuse history and negative outcomes. Five hundred fifty-two female
and 294 male university student completed questionnaires on their child abuse history, adult
attachment style, self-esteem, current psychological symptoms and a number of demographic
variables. Regression analyses, ANCOVA’s and bootstrapping mediation analyses were
completed. Physical abuse was associated with attachment avoidance and psychological
maltreatment was associated with attachment anxiety. Some support was also found for
associations between neglect and physical abuse with attachment anxiety. Sexual abuse was not
associated witheither attachment avoidance or attachment anxiety. Social support, as a control
variable, was also found to be an important predictor of attachment avoidance and attachment
anxiety. While it was hypothesized that there would be differences between high and low
severity sexual and physical abuse on adult attachment anxiety, no statistically significant
differences were found. Both attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety were found to
partially mediate the relationships between childabuse and psychological symptoms and child
abuse and self-esteem. These findings provide more detailed information regarding the
importance of adult attachment in the area of child abuse and implications for the support and
treatment of child abuse victims. One’s child abuse history can provide important information
regarding one’s attachment tendencies in adulthood impacting important adult relationships
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including the therapy relationship.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. RayleenDe Luca, for her support and guidance in
this study and my academic career. I would like to acknowledge the support I received from my
committee members, Dr. Diane Hiebert-Murphy, Dr. Josette Durup andDr. Liz Adkins. Thank
you to my fellow student and colleague, Dr. Chantal MacDonald, for both professional and
personal support through this process. Thank you to Pam Amero, Don Amero, and Paul Unger
for your support in data collection. Thank you to Carrie Paquette from the Statistics Department
at the University of Manitoba and Dr. Kathryn Sexton for your statistical consultation services.
I would like to extend a special thank you to my family for their support during this
project. Thank you to my boys for encouraging me to stay balanced and have fun. Thank you to
my parents, Mary and Ernie Froese,for believing in me, for helping me develop with traits
needed to complete this task,and for the support you provided to me and my familyover the
years. Thank you to Nettie Unger, the best mother-in-law in the world, for all the support and
time you gave so that I could work on this project. I also want to acknowledge all the support
Mel Unger provided to me and my family, while he was with us. Finally, thank you to my
biggest supporter and friend, my husband, Paul Unger. Without him and our “securely attached
marriage”, this project could not have been completed.
This research was financially supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada, the Government of Manitoba, and the University of Manitoba.
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Table of Contents
Introductory Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Child Maltreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Attachment Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Child Maltreatment and Attachment Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Child Maltreatment and Mental Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Type of Abuse and Attachment Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Mediating Effect of Attachment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Control Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Preliminary Analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Type of Abuse and Attachment Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Mediating Effect of Attachment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Type of Abuse and Attachment Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Severity of Physical and Sexual Abuse and Attachment Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Mediating Effect of Attachment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Implications of Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
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Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Future Directions and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Appendix A: Consent Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Appendix B: Feedback Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Appendix C: Demographic Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Appendix D: Experiences in Close Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Appendix E: Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Appendix F: Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Appendix G: Comprehensive Child Maltreatment Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Appendix H: Copyright Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
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Tables
Table 1: Type of Abuse and Attachment Style Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Table 2: Demographic Descriptive Frequencies and Percentages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Table 3: Descriptive Statistics for the Variables of Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Table 4: Abuse Types Frequencies and Percentages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Table 5: Correlations of Variables of Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Table 6: Regression Model for Attachment Anxiety: Physical Abuse Entered Last. . . . . . . 73
Table 7: Regression Model for Attachment Anxiety: Psychological Maltreatment Entered
Last . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Table 8: Summary of Type of Abuse and Attachment Style Regression Findings . . . . . . . 75
Table 9: Descriptive Statistics for Physical and Sexual Abuse Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
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Figures
Figure 1: Attachment Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
ABUSE AND ATTACHMENT 9
The Relationship between Child Abuse and Adult Attachment Styles
North American child protection authorities receive millions of reports of child abuse and
neglect on a yearly basis (Runyon, Kenny, Berry, Deblinger, & Brown, 2006). While not all of
these reports are substantiated, there are many other cases leftunreported (Runyonet al., 2006).
It has been estimated that almost three million children are being abused or neglected today in
the United States alone (Crosson-Tower, 2005). In a study of cases reported to child welfare
agencies in Canada, researchers found 26,692 cases of physical abuse, 3,736 cases of sexual
abuse, 38,789 cases of neglect, 16,020 cases of emotional abuse, and 19,787 cases of multiple
forms of abuse over a three month sampling period (Trocmé et al.,2005). A significant number
of children and their families are affected by child abuse making research in this area vitally
important. Increased knowledge can be used to reduce prevalence rates of child abuse and aid
victims, perpetrators, and families in their recovery process.
The current work attempted to hypothesize and understand how types of child abuse
might be related to attachment styles in adulthood. As will be described later, adult attachment is
an important indicator of intimate relationship style and quality. Because child abuse is an
important, though negative,relational experience, it is likely that these variables will interact and
affect each other in important ways. This project addsto the knowledge base about adult victims
of child abuse andtheir recovery process, particularly in forming healthy, supportive, and
enjoyable adult relationships. The introductory section will begin with a brief overview of the
different types of abuse followed by an overview of attachment theory and definitions of
attachment termsrelevant to this project. Next, the current literature discussing the relationship
between abuse and attachment will be presented followed by a summary of the hypotheses
relating child abuse to adult attachment styles.
ABUSE AND ATTACHMENT 10
Child Maltreatment
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse is generally defined as the non-accidental injury of a child inflicted by a
caregiver (Crosson-Tower, 2005). However, there are some difficulties associated with this
definition of physical abuse. It is often hard to distinguish physical abuse from extreme
discipline (Kolko, 2002). Cultures vary in their tolerance of the use of physical discipline and
this affects what is included and excluded as cases of physical abuse (Crosson-Tower, 2005).
These variations in definition are, however, difficult to measure and distinguish. Therefore, the
broad definition stated initially will be used for this project. Physical abuse is thought to affect
hundreds of thousands of children annually (Kolko, 2002). Severity of physical abuse is
generally measured by the seriousness of the physical injuries sustained by the child. Injuries
range from mild bruising to broken bones, skull fractures, and even fatalities (Kolko, 2002).
Physical abuse is associated with a number of risk factors and both short-and long-term
effects. Factors that place children at risk for physical abuse include low maternal involvement,
early separation from their mother, perinatal difficulties, maternal sociopathology, young
maternal age, parental experience of affective, somatic, and behavioural distress, unrealistic
expectations of children’s conduct and capabilities by parents (Kolko, 2002), low social support,
caregiver mental illness, and caregiver substance abuse (Wekerle, Wall, Leung, & Trocmé,
2007). In addition, in a national sample, caretaker emotional disturbance and violence between
caretakers were associated with increased risk of physical abuse of the children (Palusci, Smith,
& Paneth, 2005). Short-term consequences of physical abuse include the injuries, such as
fractures sustained from the abuse (Hoskote, Martin, Hormbrey, & Burns, 2003), decreased
enjoyment in play, low self-esteem, oppositional behaviour, verbal inhibition, depression