Emotion Dysregulation in Sexually Abused Preschoolers: Insights from a Story Completion Task

ABSTRACT

Child sexual abuse (CSA) during the preschool period can seriously undermine children’s ability to develop emotional competency. Narrative tasks, such as the MacArthur Story Stem Battery (MSSB), are particularly adapted to gain a better understanding of young children’s self-regulation processes. To explore the emotion regulation competencies of sexually abused preschoolers, we developed a coding grid and undertook a detailed analysis of abused and non-abused children’s narratives using the MSSB. A sample of 62 sexually abused and 65 non-abused preschoolers 3½ to 6½ years old was recruited and children were presented with nine stories and an expressive vocabulary test. Analyses were performed to compare abused and non-abused children’s narratives and to assess the contribution of CSA to children’s narratives. CSA was associated with fewer demonstrations of empathy, help, and comfort, and less coherent and resolved stories. The narratives of CSA victims also included less emotions and emotional variations. The influence of CSA appeared the strongest in the stories involving fear. These findings suggest the presence of emotion dysregulation among sexually abused preschoolers, but also insecure attachment, and a sense of betrayal, isolation, and powerlessness.

KEYWORDS:

• Child sexual abuse
• preschoolers
• emotion regulation
• narratives
• attachment

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the families who agreed to participate in this study and our partners from the Clinique Sociojuridique of CHU Ste-Justine and the Fondation Marie-Vincent. The authors declare no conflict of interest. Ethics Committees of the CHU Ste-Justine and Université du Québec Université du Québec approved this study. Informed written consent was obtained for every families.

Disclosure of Interest

Rachel Langevin, Louise Cossette, and Martine Hébert declare that they have no conflicts to report.

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada awarded to Martine Hébert [#410-2010-2424].

Notes on contributors

Rachel Langevin

Rachel Langevin completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Université du Québec à Montréal. Her dissertation documented the associations among sexual abuse, emotion regulation, and behavior problems in preschool children. As a postdoc fellow at Concordia University, she conducted research on the intergenerational transfer of psychosocial risk. She is now Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University where she studies the consequences, as well as the risk and protective factors associated with family violence. Dr. Langevin also acts as a clinical psychologist in private practice.

Louise Cossette (PhD) is a developmental psychologist and professor in the Department of Psychology at Université du Québec à Montréal. She has conducted research on the development of emotions and emotion regulation in children, psychosocial adjustment among international adoptees, and the development of gender.

Martine Hébert (PhD in psychology) is the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Interpersonal Traumas and Resilience and the co-holder of the Interuniversity Research Chair Marie-Vincent on child sexual abuse. She is full professor in the Department of Sexology at the Université du Québec à Montréal, and director of the Sexual Violence and Health Research Team ÉVISSA, an interdisciplinary group aiming to achieve a comprehensive understanding of sexual violence including consequences on mental, physical and sexual health in different developmental contexts (childhood, adolescence and early adulthood).