Title

The Role Of Attachment In The Relationship Between Child Maltreatment And Later Emotional And Behavioral Functioning

Keywords

Attachment; Child maltreatment; Emerging adults; Emotional abuse; Externalizing problems; Internal working models; Internalizing problems; Trauma

Abstract

The experience of childhood maltreatment is an important predictor of unfavorable emotional and behavioral outcomes. Because little research examined explanatory variables in the relationship between childhood maltreatment experiences and later outcomes, this study examined the role that attachment serves in this relationship. Four hundred twenty-four participants completed questionnaires assessing the variables of interest for this study. Results indicated that both childhood maltreatment experiences (particularly emotional abuse) and attachment (particularly to mothers and peers) are significant predictors of later emotional and behavioral outcomes. Further, attachment contributed unique and significant variance to the relationship between childhood maltreatment experiences and later outcomes. Such findings suggested that secure attachment may serve as a protective factor against maladaptive emotional and behavioral outcomes as children reach emerging adulthood, even in the context of childhood maltreatment experiences. The importance of studying the relationships among these variables is discussed.

Publication Date

9-1-2014

Publication Title

Child Abuse and Neglect

Volume

38

Issue

9

Number of Pages

1436-1449

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.02.006

Socpus ID

84904443449 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84904443449

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