Attachment representations in sexually abused preschoolers: a comparative study

ABSTRACT

Attachment theory provides a relevant framework for understanding the psychosocial adjustment of victims of child sexual abuse (CSA). However, most studies have been conducted among adult populations and none have focused on the impact of both preschoolers’ and mothers’ experience of sexual abuse on attachment security. The aim of this study was to compare attachment representations in sexually abused (n = 258) and non-abused preschoolers (n = 133), and to explore the relation between maternal history of CSA and children’s attachment representations. A story completion task assessing attachment representations was administered to children (Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy, 1990). The results revealed that CSA preschoolers presented significantly higher levels of attachment disorganization compared to non-abused children, and that abused boys were at particular risk for hyperactivation and disorganization. Associations between mothers’ history of CSA and children’s attachment representations were non-significant. These findings support the need to consider victims’ attachment representations in the implementation of efficient treatment programs. Targeting parent–child relationships in interventions could help promote attachment security in a vulnerable population of preschool victims.

KEYWORDS:

• Child sexual abuse
• attachment
• preschoolers
• narratives
• representations

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the families who participated in this study as well as the practitioners from the different intervention settings involved in this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was conducted as part of the first author’s PhD thesis supported by a fellowship from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture (FRQSC). The research project was made possible by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [# 2424] awarded to Martine Hébert.