The Impact Of Child Sexual Abuse On Attachment

The effects of childhood sexual abuse carry on with the children forever. To what extent and to what effect does abuse have on children during adulthood? What are the main issues that adults have been abused suffer from in adulthood? Do they have more of a physical issue with preforming with their partner in the bedroom or do they have more of a mental block due to their trauma? The world had been asking these questions for far too long and we need answers on how helping the children of our world. The questions that have been stated have been answered through the two articles that will be summarized below.

Attachment theory, or styles, is the way we describe relationships and bonds between people. In this particular case it will be about the bond between two parents and the child as they struggle through the troubles of divorce. In Dean McKay’s article “The Trauma of Divorce: Reducing the Impact of Separation on Children” we see that he identifies divorce for children as trauma, and that because of trauma they become less secure in attachment. He begins to show the multiple ways that divorce can cause an impact on children, if the child is going through an attachment stage. McKay also begins to tell of how attachments can become weakened through divorce (McKay, 1997). His main area of concern though is that if the attachment is weakened as a child how does it both them as an adult?

In the earliest stages of development, emotions are diffuse and infants have little control over their behavioral expression, relying instead on the dyadic regulation provided by their caregivers’ responses to behavioral signals. Attachment disorders form in infancy and early childhood as a result of instability in the child-caregiver relationship. Attachment-disordered children typically have experienced abusive or neglectful care, multiple changes between caregivers and environments, or the sudden loss of a parent or parents.

This suggest that attachment has been at the forefront of children’s social relationships. Attachment substantially contributes to our understanding of why the experience of being physically abused might lead to the development of representations and behavioral patterns that hinder the development of peer relationships. Like Social Learning Theory regarding parental abusive models, attachment plays a major role in how abuse affects children. As such, attachment theory explores the relevance of maltreatment and physical abuse on children. The theory also concludes that children who experience abuse or neglect are likely to develop insecure and disorganized attachments, causing them to extend that same behavior to their own children. This suggests that early childhood adverse experiences influence later parenting behavior (Begle, Dumas & Hanson, 2010).

Not only can this result in self harm but also a lifestyle of homosexuality. Richard Garson is a training and supervising analyst who wrote a January 30, 2011 article called, Talking about Sexuality on Abused Boys and who They Become. Richard Garson did an investigation on the question of whether mentally and sexually abused childhoods increase the likelihood of same sex relationships. This investigation concluded, “Findings from this investigation provide tentative support for a sexual relationship between childhood sexual abuse and same sex sexual relationships, but this relationship appeared only for men. That is, men with histories of childhood sexual abuse were more likely than men in a control group to report same sex sexual partnerships” (Garson 1). Although this investigation only clarifies for men it still shows that an abused childhood can be the underlining factor of why one chose this lifestyle. This investigation also stated, “A physically abused childhood can cause a same sex relationship but also a mind transition. Nevertheless, a heterosexual boy is likely to doubt himself, wondering why he was chosen by a man for sex. A homosexual boy may feel rushed into considering himself gay, or may hate his homosexuality because he believes it was caused by his abuse” (Garson 1). Tavaun Moore an openly gay male was interviewed and asked how being molested affected him as a child. In Tavaun’s answer he stated, “As much pain as being raped and molested caused me I look at

An article written about the effects of sexual abuse in accordance with male victims, claims: “[t]hree perspectives of early family relationships and attachment theory, developmental psychopathology, and trauma theory provide a conceptual understanding as to why some victims are vulnerable to the effects of sexual abuse while others appear resilient to it.” Although the study's main objective is to understand the developmental effects of male CSA survivors, it also notes that the majority of the data collected about the psychological well being of the sample is also representative of female CSA survivors. In a similar study on the repercussions of sexual abuse in male victims, Scott Eastman depicts a table simply explaining the process of coping, or the problems tied to CSA. Much like a story line, there is a beginning a middle and an end after the initial incident, but not all survivors reach the stages of completion and often times face difficulties coping. In the middle stage of the process, is distraction, obsessive review. These are symptoms tied to PTSD, defined as a disorder which a traumatic event causes flashbacks, nightmares, and uncontrollable thoughts about the event. It may reasonably be concluded that the obsessive thoughts are tied to PTSD because reviewing the traumatic experience may give the illusion of understanding to the survivor. In the final Stage of the process, following acceptance, is

While negative effects manifest differently in females than males, the abuse is equally damaging to both genders. In my experience, most male CSA victims are riddled with feelings of guilt and shame. Most often their abuse was perpetrated by a trusted male during a critical time in development. Although the sexual contact was unsolicited and unwanted, their body had a physiological response to stimulation. This confusion often contributes to the victim’s belief that the abuse was somehow their fault, therefore “causing an unwillingness to admit to being victimized, and difficulty making negative attributions regarding an otherwise positive person” Ondersma et al.). Rind’s utilization of a college sample excludes the aforementioned male CSA victims. Since their maladaptive behaviors often lead to addiction, delinquency, and poor academic performance, males who suffered more maladaptive effects are very unlikely to be included in a college sample. Therefore, Rind’s findings can’t be accurately generalized to the majority

Feinauer suggested several implications for practice from this study. She proposed that therapists who work with couples experiencing difficulty with intimacy of both sexual and emotional nature should consider sexual abuse history of the partners involved because without handling the sexual abuse related issues , the intervention of therapy will not be very effective. She stated that if the CSA survivor continued to believe and act out the idea that they have to perform sexually in order to get love, acceptance, security, then they cannot participate in sexually intimate relationships.

In relation to the Adult Attachment Interview, one study focused on the states of mind and previous traumas of 70 neglectful or high risk mothers using a coding system called Hostile-Helpless (HH). This coding system for the Adult Attachment Interview according to Milot (2014),was developed to capture disorganized attachment states of mind that would result from childhood relational trauma.” (P.1351)The mothers were accessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, while results were coded from interview transcripts. The results of this study showed that there was a high prevalence of disorganized attachment states within the sample observed. Almost all of the mothers revealed a form of previous trauma, and in many causes reporting multiple

Across studies it is shown that any form of CSA is strongly associated with major depression and PTSD (Chen et al., 2014). In one study conducted by Lev-Wiesel and Markus (2011), researchers administered the childhood sexual assaults scale to 225 female participants. This particular scale includes questions related to coercion and the type of sexual assault experienced. The results of this study showed that when individuals were coerced into intercourse, the levels of depression and post-traumatic stress symptomology were higher than when the intercourse was not coerced (Lev-Wiesel & Markus, 2011). Moreover, individuals whose abuse involved actual or attempted intercourse had more symptoms of PTSD than individuals who experienced other forms

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) refers to sexual relations with a child, who is powerless to consent (King, Wardecker, & Edelstein, 2016). CSA is a considerably prevalent and common problem in our world today, which may result in long-term adverse outcomes, such as PTSD, suicidal thoughts, low self-esteem, and depression. In addition to these long-term adverse outcomes, CSA also affects family functioning and interpersonal problems, such as parent/child relationships.

. (Stewart, ) contends that feelings of vulnerability, unworthiness and powerless difficulty in distinguishing sexual from affectionate behaviours, mistrust, shame, guilt, stigma and mental health problems are psychological effects of CSA. A study conducted by (Wilson, 2010) indicates that adult survivors of CSA show a series of psychological and physical problems throughout their lives. (Hornor, 2010) argues that the majority of children who are sexually abused will be moderately to severely symptomatic at some point in their life. There is evidence to suggest that (Stevenson, 1999) children who are exposed to sexual abuse are at risk negative consequences as a result of the abuse itself, not solely as a consequence of other associated background

Childhood sexual abuse is a serious concern that has been associated with long term effects amongst survivors. Using secondary data, this qualitative piece of research explores the long term effects of child sexual abuse in later adult life. The purpose for this study is to create awareness to professionals that sexual abuse effects continue long after the abuse stops thus, sufficient knowledge on the characteristics of the abuse.

This report outlines the importance of Bion’s container/contained theory and Bowlby’s attachment theory in developing secure relationships. Sadly, abused infants form a disorganised attachment style which causes them as adults to adapt maladaptive parenting skills. This leads to intergenerational transmission of maltreatment. These parents tend to use fight, flight or freeze responses to cope with their traumatic past. However in saying that, if the abused parent has been able to develop a secure attachment with another individual, or access psychotherapy, the parent can learn healthy parenting behaviours, and is able to break the cycle of intergenerational transmission of trauma being passed on to future generations.

1. Alexander, P. C. (1993). The differential effects of abuse characteristics and attachment in the prediction of long-term effects of sexual abuse. Journal of interpersonal violence, 8, 346-362