ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The primary aim was to determine the relative contributions of early attachment and abuse history to adult attachment, depression, and conflict resolution behaviors. Differences between abused and nonabused respondents were also assessed. METHOD: A multi-scale questionnaire was completed by 879 college students. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to answer the primary research question, and analyses also compared the 26.4% of respondents who reported childhood abuse with those who did not. RESULTS: Respondents who indicated they had been abused as children reported less secure childhood and adult relationships than their nonabused counterparts. They were also more depressed and more likely to use destructive behaviors in conflict situations. Although both adult romantic attachment and respondents' depression scores were best accounted for by childhood attachment to mother and father rather than abuse history, the opposite pattern of results emerged for conflict resolution behaviors. In this case, abuse history was the stronger predictor, and parental attachment did not account for any significant additional variance. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that the long-term impact of childhood abuse may be mediated by early attachment experiences, whereas the long-term impact of abuse on conflict resolution behaviors may be considerably more direct.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Child Abuse/psychology , Conflict, Psychological , Family Health , Object Attachment , Parent-Child Relations , Personality Development , Adult , Analysis of Variance , Chi-Square Distribution , Child , Cross-Sectional Studies , Depression/etiology , Father-Child Relations , Female , Humans , Interpersonal Relations , Male , Mother-Child Relations , Regression Analysis , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
Narrative features of the life stories of child abuse survivors and nonvictimized respondents were compared. Particular emphasis was placed on relatively "objective" features, given that the content of the narrative typically precluded blind coding. The research focused on both the relative emphasis on the past versus present and future and on the self versus others in respondents' stories. The narratives of child abuse survivors differed from the comparison group on both of these features; their stories focused more on the past and de-emphasized the central role of the self. Greater emphasis on others was the best predictor of poor present coping among child abuse survivors. The narratives of a second sample of respondents who reported having experienced traumatic parental divorce were studied for comparison purposes. Despite some similarities in narrative construction, the increased emphasis on others, with its maladaptive associations, was unique to child abuse survivors.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Child Abuse, Sexual/psychology , Child Abuse/psychology , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/psychology , Survival/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Child Abuse/prevention & control , Child Abuse, Sexual/prevention & control , Defense Mechanisms , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Interpersonal Relations , Male , Personality Assessment , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosisABSTRACT
Two studies were conducted to examine the long-term impact of parental divorce on beliefs about the self and others. In Study 1, college-aged children of divorce and students from intact families did not differ on 8 basic assumptions or on measures of depression. Those whose parents are divorced, however, were less optimistic about the success of their own future marriages. Assumptions about the benevolence of people best predicted the marital optimism of the parental divorce group, but not of the intact family group. In Study 2, assumptions about the benevolence of people were explored in terms of trust beliefs. College-aged children of divorce and a matched sample from intact homes differed only on marriage-related beliefs, not on generalized trust. Children of divorced reported less trust of a future spouse and were less optimistic about marriage. Exploratory analyses found that continuous conflict in family of origin adversely affected all levels of trust.
Subject(s)
Divorce/psychology , Parent-Child Relations , Personality Development , Adaptation, Psychological , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Male , Self Concept , Social PerceptionABSTRACT
This study examined the relationship between particular cognitions and psychological adjustment to breast cancer. It was hypothesized that adjustment would be positively associated with victims' perceptions of invulnerability to a recurrence of cancer and that victims' causal attributions for cancer would influence adjustment to the extent that the attributions contributed to or detracted from perceived invulnerability. A path model was developed based on the proposed association between invulnerability and adjustment, and attributions were tested for whether they directly or indirectly influenced adjustment. Responses from intensive interviews of 42 breast cancer victims were used to test the path model. Results strongly supported the hypothesized positive association between perceived invulnerability and adjustment and showed that the relationships between specific attributions and adjustment were mediated by vulnerability beliefs.
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms/psychology , Adaptation, Psychological , Adult , Aged , Emotions , Female , Humans , Internal-External Control , Mastectomy/psychology , Middle Aged , Models, Psychological , Recurrence , Self ConceptABSTRACT
Two types of self-blame--behavioral and characterological--are distinguished. Behavioral self-blame is control related, involves attributions to a modifiable source (one's behavior), and is associated with a belief in the future avoidability of a negative outcome. Characterological self-blame is esteem related, involves attributions to a relatively nonmodifiable source (one's character), and is associated with a belief in personal deservingness for past negative outcomes. Two studies are reported that bear on this self-blame distinction. In the first study, it was found that depressed female college students engaged in more characterologial self-blame than nondepressed female college students, whereas behavioral self-blame did not differ between the two groups; the depressed population was also characterized by greater attributions to chance and decreased beliefs in personal control. Characterological self-blame is proposed as a possible solution to the "paradox in depression." In a second study, rape crisis centers were surveyed. Behavioral self-blame, and not characterological self-blame, emerged as the most common response of rape victims to their victimization, suggesting the victim's desire to maintain a belief in control, particularly the belief in the future avoidability of rape. Implications of this self-blame distinction and potential directions for future research are discussed.
Subject(s)
Depression/psychology , Guilt , Rape , Female , Humans , Personality , Self ConceptABSTRACT
Adaptation level theory suggests that both contrast and habituation will operate to prevent the winning of a fortune from elevating happiness as much as might be expected. Contrast with the peak experience of winning should lessen the impact of ordinary pleasures, while habituation should eventually reduce the value of new pleasures made possible by winning. Study 1 compared a sample of 22 major lottery winners with 22 controls and also with a group of 29 paralyzed accident victims who had been interviewed previously. As predicted, lottery winners were not happier than controls and took significantly less pleasure from a series of mundane events. Study 2 indicated that these effects were not due to preexisting differences between people who buy or do not buy lottery tickets or between interviews that made or did not make the lottery salient. Paraplegics also demonstrated a contrast effect, not by enhancing minor pleasures but by idealizing their past, which did not help their present happiness.
