Previous research has suggested that a strong relationship exists between early childhood abuse and later suicidal behavior. However, the process through which an abused child becomes suicidal in adolescence has not been examined. The present study attempted to identify a pathway in a sample of juvenile delinquents because they have been shown to be at an increased risk for suicide when compared to the general population. It was initially hypothesized that the use of avoidant coping strategies; a self-deprecatory attributional style; poor perceived social support; poor problem-solving appraisal; depression; hopelessness; and low self-esteem would be associated with suicidal ideation, subsequent to childhood abuse. However, this theory could not be examined due to methodological weaknesses encountered in the study. A similar yet more parsimonious theory was then devised, prior to analyses, based on links found in previous research between the variables that could be examined. It was hypothesized that childhood abuse and low social support would be related to later suicidal ideation via poor problem-solving appraisal and psychopathology in the form of depression, hopelessness, and low self-esteem. Different variations of this mediational theory were examined through the use of structural equation models. The sample employed in this study included two hundred adolescents incarcerated at juvenile detention centers in Virginia. All participants voluntarily completed 11 self-report measures which took approximately 1½ to 2 hours, while seated in their classroom at the juvenile detention center. The findings from the present study suggest that the relationship between childhood abuse and low social support, and suicidal ideation, is mediated by psychopathology and to a lesser extent, poor problem-solving appraisal. / Master of Science

The current study explored the relationship between client’s history of childhood abuse and psychotherapy outcome, specifically, depressive symptoms, interpersonal problems, dysfunctional attitudes, self-esteem and attachment. The study also explored the relationship between client’s history of childhood abuse and current introject style, as well as the relationship between client introject style and psychotherapy outcome. The current study consisted of a sample of 60 clients and was drawn from an archival database of clients who were diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and received 16 weeks of psychotherapy treatment (Watson, Gordon, Stermac, Kalogerakos & Steckley (2003). Client’s history of childhood abuse was determined using the Traumatic Stress Inventory (TSI short-form; McCann & Pearlman, 1992). Introject styles were established using the Structural Analysis of Social Behaviour (SASB; Benjamin, 1974), an observer rated process measure. The middle 15 minutes of an early (session 3) and late session (session 15) were rated using the SASB. Results indicated that women who experienced childhood abuse showed a reduction in levels of their self-accepting introject style in session 15 compared to session 3 while women without childhood abuse showed increased levels of the self-accepting introject style in session 15 compared to session 3. Results also indicated that clients with managing and cultivating of self introject styles as measured at session 3 showed improvements in dysfunctional attitudes, interpersonal problems and self-esteem by the end of 16-weeks of psychotherapy. Having a history of childhood abuse was not related to any of the outcome measures; clients, regardless of history of childhood abuse improved over time. Results did show history of childhood abuse to be related to perceptions of early childhood attachment experiences; specifically, clients with histories of childhood abuse showed higher scores overall for perceptions of experiences with caregivers as rejecting and angry. Finally, results indicated that clients with a history of childhood abuse have a significantly greater number of depressive episodes on average than clients without a history of childhood abuse. Implications for future research and clinical work are discussed.

The current study explored the relationship between client’s history of childhood abuse and psychotherapy outcome, specifically, depressive symptoms, interpersonal problems, dysfunctional attitudes, self-esteem and attachment. The study also explored the relationship between client’s history of childhood abuse and current introject style, as well as the relationship between client introject style and psychotherapy outcome. The current study consisted of a sample of 60 clients and was drawn from an archival database of clients who were diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and received 16 weeks of psychotherapy treatment (Watson, Gordon, Stermac, Kalogerakos & Steckley (2003). Client’s history of childhood abuse was determined using the Traumatic Stress Inventory (TSI short-form; McCann & Pearlman, 1992). Introject styles were established using the Structural Analysis of Social Behaviour (SASB; Benjamin, 1974), an observer rated process measure. The middle 15 minutes of an early (session 3) and late session (session 15) were rated using the SASB. Results indicated that women who experienced childhood abuse showed a reduction in levels of their self-accepting introject style in session 15 compared to session 3 while women without childhood abuse showed increased levels of the self-accepting introject style in session 15 compared to session 3. Results also indicated that clients with managing and cultivating of self introject styles as measured at session 3 showed improvements in dysfunctional attitudes, interpersonal problems and self-esteem by the end of 16-weeks of psychotherapy. Having a history of childhood abuse was not related to any of the outcome measures; clients, regardless of history of childhood abuse improved over time. Results did show history of childhood abuse to be related to perceptions of early childhood attachment experiences; specifically, clients with histories of childhood abuse showed higher scores overall for perceptions of experiences with caregivers as rejecting and angry. Finally, results indicated that clients with a history of childhood abuse have a significantly greater number of depressive episodes on average than clients without a history of childhood abuse. Implications for future research and clinical work are discussed.

Many studies reported that childhood abuse and stress play contributory roles in the development and maintenance of disordered eating behaviors. However, these studies made no mentioned efforts to validate their self-report data, and thus failed to separate the effects of actuality versus perception of childhood abuse. Thus, the current study examined how perceptions of childhood abuse and life stress affect binge eating behavior among university students. Participants for the current study included 173 undergraduate students, recruited via Study Board. After giving verbal consent, participants completed a series of surveys and questionnaires that collected demographic data, and measured perception of abuse, perceived stress levels and binge eating activity. Upon completion, participants were given either course credits or extra credits, to be given at the discretion of their professors. Results indicated that all of the hypotheses were supported. There were significant differences between the perception of abuse and the perceived life stress conditions (respectively). Furthermore, both of the independent variables were shown to be predictive of binge eating behavior. However, there was no interaction effect between the two independent variables. Moreover, these two variables did not moderate each other in terms of predicting binge eating behavior among university students. Findings from this study indicated that perceptions of childhood abuse and recent life stress are both predictive of binge eating activity among university students, which was highest among individuals with a perceived history of childhood abuse. While findings from this study showed a correlation between perception of abuse and binge eating behavior, they did not show a correlation between reporting of actual incidents of childhood abuse and binge eating behavior. There were a number of limitations to the study, including limited generalizability of the findings, limited reliability of self-report measures, and any confounding of analyzed data due to order effect. Future studies are encouraged to further explore the relationship between perception and actuality of childhood abuse.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Purpose We sought to evaluate the extent to which childhood physical and/or sexual abuse history is associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during early pregnancy and to explore the extent to which the childhood abuse-PTSD association is mediated through, or modified by, adult experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV). Methods In-person interviews collected information regarding history of childhood abuse and IPV from 2,928 women aged 18-49 years old prior to 16 weeks of gestation. PTSD was assessed using the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results Compared to women with no childhood abuse, the odds of PTSD were increased 4.31-fold for those who reported physical abuse only (95% CI, 2.18–8.49), 5.33-fold for sexual abuse only (95% CI, 2.38–11.98), and 8.03-fold for those who reported physical and sexual abuse (95% CI, 4.10–15.74). Mediation analysis showed 13% of the childhood abuse-PTSD association was mediated by IPV. Furthermore, high odds of PTSD were noted among women with histories of childhood abuse and IPV compared with women who were not exposed to either (OR = 20.20; 95% CI, 8.18–49.85). Conclusions Childhood abuse is associated with increased odds of PTSD during early pregnancy. The odds of PTSD were particularly elevated among women with a history of childhood abuse and IPV. Efforts should be made to prevent childhood abuse and mitigate its effects on women's mental health. / Revisión por pares

The relationship between alexithymia, PTSD symptoms, attachment, and depression was examined using archival data from a university-based trauma clinic. Participants were 62 women and 20 men, ages ranging from 17 to 59, with childhood histories of physical or sexual abuse. Measures included the Structured Clinical Interview on Childhood Sexual Abuse History (SI-SA), Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R), Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ), Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II), and Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20). As predicted, alexithymia, PTSD symptoms, and depression were negatively correlated with secure attachment and positively correlated with insecure attachment. Also as predicted, depression and insecure attachment styles containing negative models of the self (need for approval, discomfort with closeness) mediated the relationship between alexithymia and PTSD symptoms while styles involving positive models of the self (confidence, relationships as secondary) did not. Preoccupation with relationships was excluded from mediation analyses because alexithymia was not a significant predictor of this construct. Results suggest that the symptom profile of adult survivors of childhood abuse can be complex and may require interventions that target a broad range of symptoms and difficulties including alexithymia, attachment, and depression.

Introduction: Experiences of negative parenting and childhood abuse can have adverse consequences for the child‟s development particularly in relation to the ability to regulate emotions effectively. There has been extensive research in this area and attachment theory is pivotal. Problems in regulating emotions can involve not being able to recognise, label or manage internal and external states of mind and behaviour. Therefore research has shown that problems in emotion regulation skills due to negative parental and/or abusive experiences can result in long-term psychosocial problems such as depression. Research has suggested that adults with adverse childhood experiences exhibit risky behaviours as a means of managing their emotions such as self-harming, dangerous sexual encounters and substance misuse. Although research has shown that there is an association between these factors no real understanding of the pathways and the potential mediating roles these factors play has been investigated with people presenting with suicidal behaviour, which could be argued as the ultimate form of managing emotions and therefore the internal and external self. Therefore this study aims to answer the following question: Does childhood abuse and dysfunctional emotion regulation mediate the relationship between parental bonding and suicidal behaviour. Method: This study involved sixty participants from a suicidal behaviour sample presenting at an Accident and Emergency department aged between 18 - 65. Measures assessing childhood abuse, emotion regulation, parental bonding, suicidal intent, risk of repeating suicidal behaviour, depression and anxiety were completed. Results: Childhood emotional abuse was found to significantly mediate the relationship between low parental care and risk of repeating suicidal behaviour. A lack of external functional emotion regulation strategies was also found to mediate the relationship between parental care and risk of repeating suicidal behaviour. Finally, a lack of internal functional emotion regulation strategies was found to mediate the relationship between childhood physical abuse and risk of repeating suicidal behaviour. Conclusion: Preliminary findings of this study suggest that childhood emotional abuse and dysfunctional emotion regulation play a crucial role in further understanding those who engage in and are at risk of repeating suicidal behaviour. Therefore, emotions and emotion regulation within a developmental framework are important when considering long-term adult psychosocial functioning.

The variety of ways in which child abuse is currently defined hampers efforts to capture the prevalence of child abuse and seriously undermines research efforts. Professionals and researchers agree that the definition of child abuse is problematic and call for a concerted effort to address the problem. The goal of this study was to contribute to our understanding of child abuse by giving voice to individuals who labeled their childhood experiences as abusive. In-depth, unstructured interviews explored their childhood experiences, and the process by which they arrived at their decision to label these experiences as abusive. The categories and properties that emerged from the analysis of these narratives were tested against the narratives of individuals who shared similar childhood experiences but who did not label their experiences as abusive. I used the principles and methods of grounded theory to guide the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data. <p>As a result of the analysis, a theory was developed whereby child abuse is best described as a dynamic process that occurs in the interaction between a child and his or her parents as well as a child and his or her community. It is a struggle for control that begins with a parent's need for control that escalates over time into out-of-control behaviors as a child attempts to regain control through a variety of strategies that, over time, also become out of control. Stressors, both pre-existing and on-going, play a pivotal role in initiating and maintaining the child abuse process. Isolation, both social and psychological, is central to the experience of abuse and leads to the labeling of abuse. The experience of child abuse is one of being dehumanized or robbed of a sense of self. A discussion of this theory in relation to present models of abuse, the intergenerational transmission of abuse, interventions and directions forfuture research follows the presentation of the theory.

The variety of ways in which child abuse is currently defined hampers efforts to capture the prevalence of child abuse and seriously undermines research efforts. Professionals and researchers agree that the definition of child abuse is problematic and call for a concerted effort to address the problem. The goal of this study was to contribute to our understanding of child abuse by giving voice to individuals who labeled their childhood experiences as abusive. In-depth, unstructured interviews explored their childhood experiences, and the process by which they arrived at their decision to label these experiences as abusive. The categories and properties that emerged from the analysis of these narratives were tested against the narratives of individuals who shared similar childhood experiences but who did not label their experiences as abusive. I used the principles and methods of grounded theory to guide the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data. <p>As a result of the analysis, a theory was developed whereby child abuse is best described as a dynamic process that occurs in the interaction between a child and his or her parents as well as a child and his or her community. It is a struggle for control that begins with a parent's need for control that escalates over time into out-of-control behaviors as a child attempts to regain control through a variety of strategies that, over time, also become out of control. Stressors, both pre-existing and on-going, play a pivotal role in initiating and maintaining the child abuse process. Isolation, both social and psychological, is central to the experience of abuse and leads to the labeling of abuse. The experience of child abuse is one of being dehumanized or robbed of a sense of self. A discussion of this theory in relation to present models of abuse, the intergenerational transmission of abuse, interventions and directions forfuture research follows the presentation of the theory.

Despite the increased attention devoted to sexual aggression among young people in the international scientific literature, Brazil has little research on the subject exclusively among this group. There is evidence that sexual aggression and victimization may start early. Identifying the magnitude and factors that increase the chance for the onset and persistence of sexual victimization are the first steps for prevention efforts among this group. Using both cross-sectional and prospective analyses, this study examined the prevalence of, and vulnerability factors for sexual aggression and victimization in female and male college students (N = 742; M = 20.1 years) in Brazil, of whom a subgroup (n = 354) took part in two measurements six months apart. At Time 1, a Portuguese version of the Short Form of the Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss et al., 2007) was administered to collect information from men and women as both victims and perpetrators of sexual aggression since the age of 14. The students were also asked to provide information on their cognitive representations (sexual scripts) of a consensual sexual encounter, their actual sexual behavior, use of pornography, and experiences of child abuse. At Time 2, the same items from the SES were presented again to assess the incidence of sexual aggression in the 6-month period since T1. The overall prevalence rate of victimization was 27% among men and 29% among women. In contrast, perpetration rates were significantly higher among men (33.7%) than among women (3%). Confirming the hypotheses, cognitive (i.e., risky sexual scripts, normative beliefs), behavioral (i.e., pornography use, sexual behavior patterns) and biographical (i.e., childhood abuse) risk factors were linked to male sexual aggression and to male and female victimization both cross-sectionally and longitudinally with the path models analyses demonstrating good fit with the data. The results supported: a) the role of the sexual script for a first consensual sexual encounter as an underlying factor of real sexual behavior and sexual victimization or perpetration; b) the role of pornography as “inputs” for sexual scripts, increasing indirectly the risk for victimization, and directly and indirectly the risk for perpetration; c) the direct and indirect link between childhood experiences of (sexual) abuse and male sexual aggression and victimization mediated by sexual behavior; and d) the direct link between child sexual abuse and sexual victimization among women. Few gender differences were found in the victimization model. The findings challenge societal beliefs that sexual aggression is restricted to groups with low socio-economic status and that men are unlikely to be sexually coerced. The disparity between male victimization and female perpetration rates is discussed based on traditional gender roles in Brazil. This study is also the first prospective investigation of risk factors for sexual aggression and victimization in Brazil, demonstrating the role of behavioral, cognitive and biographical factors that increase the vulnerability among college students. / Apesar do aumento da atenção dedicada ao fenômeno da agressão sexual entre jovens na literatura científica internacional, o Brasil tem pouca pesquisa no assunto exclusivamente neste grupo. Há evidências de que a agressão e vitimização sexual podem começar precocemente. A identificação da magnitude e dos fatores que aumentam a chance do surgimento e persistência de agressão sexual são os primeiros passos para a prevenção do problema. Usando delineamento transversal e prospectivo, o presente estudo investigou a prevalência e fatores de risco para a agressão e vitimização sexual em estudantes universitários de ambos os sexos (N = 742; M = 20,1 anos) no Brasil, dos quais um subgrupo (n = 354) participou em dois momentos separados por um intervalo de seis meses. Na primeira coleta (T1), uma versão em Português de Short Form of the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES) (Koss et al. / 2007) foi aplicada para obter informações sobre experiências de vitimização e agressão sexual em homens e mulheres desde os 14 anos de idade. Os estudantes também foram convidados a fornecer informações sobre suas representações cognitivas de um encontro sexual consensual (scripts sexuais), seu comportamento sexual real, o uso de pornografia e experiências de abuso na infância. Na segunda coleta (T2), os mesmos itens de SES foram apresentados para investigar a incidência de agressão sexual no período de seis meses desde T1. Os resultados mostraram que a taxa de prevalência de vitimização foi de 27% entre os homens e 29% entre as mulheres. Em contraste, as taxas de perpetração foram significativamente maiores entre os homens (33,7%) do que entre as mulheres (3%). Confirmando as hipóteses, variáveis cognitivas (scripts sexuais e aceitação normativa de risco), comportamentais (uso da pornografia e padrões de comportamento sexual) e biográficas (história de abuso na infância) constituíram fatores de risco para agressão sexual masculina e vitimização sexual feminina e masculina, tanto transversal quanto prospectivamente. Os resultados demonstram: a) o papel dos scripts sexuais como um fator subjacente ao comportamento sexual real e à vitimização ou perpetração sexual; b) o papel da pornografia como "input" para os scripts sexuais, aumentando, direta e indiretamente, o risco de perpetração e, indiretamente, o risco para vitimização; c) a ligação direta e indireta entre as experiências de abuso (sexual) infantil na agressão e vitimização sexual masculina mediada pelo comportamento sexual e d) a ligação direta entre o abuso sexual infantil e vitimização sexual entre as mulheres. Poucas diferenças de gênero foram encontradas no modelo de vitimização. Os resultados desafiam crenças de que a agressão sexual é restrita a grupos com baixo nível sócio-econômico e que homens não estão susceptíveis à coerção sexual. A disparidade entre as taxas de vitimização masculina e perpetração feminina é discutida com base nos papéis tradicionais de gênero no Brasil. Este estudo é o primeiro com delineamento prospectivo a investigar o papel de fatores comportamentais, cognitivos e biográficos na etiologia da agressão sexual no Brasil.