QUANTITATIVE MEASURES OF CONSTRUING IN CHILD ABUSE SURVIVORS

Abstract

Quantitative aspects of construing associated with long-term effects of abusive childhood experiences are examined within a personal construct theory framework. Indices of negative self-construing, reduced identification with others, and extreme construing are compared from the elicited Repertory Grids (RepGrids) of survivors of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and nonabused controls (N = 336). Responses to the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ) are also compared, as a further measure of negative self-constructions. Abuse histories are particularly associated with RepGrid and ATQ measures of negative self-constructions and with RepGrid measures of perceived differences between self and parents. Among cognitive and construct measures, the ATQ is most strongly related to standardized measures of symptom distress and social maladjustment, but RepGrid measures also make a unique contribution. From the RepGrid, extreme perceptions of self are related to symptom distress and social maladjustment, and self-ideal discrepancy is related to social maladjustment. Shared method variance and standardized statements specifically relevant to self-evaluation and pathology may contribute to the predictiveness of the ATQ. In contrast, the RepGrid samples a more general range of idiographic constructs used in comparing people.