Original articleContribution of attachment security to the prediction of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in preschoolers victims of sexual abuseAdaptation psychosociale des enfants d’âge préscolaire agressés sexuellement : contribution de la sécurité d’attachement
Section snippets
Attachment security
The quality of the parent–child relationship in response to the distress expressed by the child is a central concept in attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969/1982, Bowlby, 1973, Bowlby, 1977, Bowlby, 1980). During their first year of life, children become emotionally attached to their parental figures and learn to organize their search for support and comfort according to their attachment figures’ responses to their emotional needs (Bowlby, 1977). Over the course of such interactions, children
Attachment security in adults or adolescents who have experienced sexual abuse
Several empirical relations have been established between attachment security and levels of symptomatology among adult or adolescent victims of SA during childhood. Roche et al. found that the attachment pattern of adult victims of SA during childhood contributes to the prediction of psychological distress beyond the characteristics of SA (Roche, Runtz, & Hunter, 1999). In addition, adults who suffered SA during childhood and who have an unresolved attachment pattern (resembling the
Participants
All non-offending parents and children between the ages of 3 and 6 years (89% girls and 11% boys, M = 4.80 years; SD = 0.87) consulting the Clinique de pédiatrie socio-juridique du centre hospitalier universitaire Mère-Enfant Sainte-Justine of Montreal (CHU Sainte-Justine) for medical evaluation purposes in the context of SA (disclosed or suspected) were solicited to participate in the study. During the course of the data collection, which took place over a period of 28 months, 189 children who
Results
Results are presented in three sections. First, descriptive data on the sample is provided. Then, chi-square analyses are conducted to explore the associations between characteristics of SA, parental psychological distress and attachment patterns, as well as with internalizing and externalizing behavior difficulties. Finally, hierarchical logistic regressions are performed to explore the contribution of characteristics of the SA and attachment patterns to the prediction of clinical levels of
Discussion
The objective of the present study was to document the profiles of preschoolers who have experienced SA, and to predict their symptoms using an attachment theory framework. The very young child's social network is often limited to the immediate family and few studies have addressed this vulnerable population following SA (Wood et al., 2004). This underscores the importance of applying a theoretical framework based on attachment in order to better understand the symptoms observed in preschool
Limitations
Some methodological limitations imply that the results of the present study must be interpreted with caution. The profiles of participating children cannot be generalized to all preschool children victims of SA, since recruitment was done in a hospital setting providing services on a voluntary basis. In addition, too few boys were recruited, which limited the possibility of conducting gender-specific analyses. Further efforts must be undertaken in future studies to increase the recruitment of
Conclusion
This study represents a first step towards a better understanding of the symptoms observed in preschool children experiencing SA. It provides relevant cues to guide intervention practices to promote the optimal development of young children despite the trauma they experienced. They are vulnerable and it is essential to document their needs.
Disclosure of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest concerning this article.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by a grant from the Fonds de recherche sur la société et la culture du Québec (FQRSC) awarded to Martine Hébert, Ph.D. and by doctoral scholarships awarded to the first author by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the FQRSC, the Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les problèmes conjugaux et les agressions sexuelles (CRIPCAS), and the research Team Violence sexuelle et santé (EVISSA). The author thank the children and the
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2022, Child Abuse and NeglectCitation Excerpt :Sexual maltreatment has not been commonly discussed in previous research on early childhood behavioral symptoms. A study of 116 children who experienced sexual maltreatment around ages 3 to 6 suggested that early childhood sexual abuse predicted clinical internalizing symptoms but not externalizing symptoms (Beaudoin et al., 2013). Cicchetti et al. (2010) noted that children who experienced both physical and sexual abuse before age 5 exhibited severe internalizing symptoms.
Disorganized attachment and emotion dysregulation as mediators of the association between sexual abuse and dissociation in preschoolers
2020, Journal of Affective DisordersCitation Excerpt :Compared to non-abused children, victims of CSA were found to be at elevated risk for ambivalence and disorganization (Fresno et al., 2014). Disorganization was also associated with internalizing and externalizing problems in children (Beaudoin et al., 2013), however this study was cross-sectional and did not include a comparison group of non-abused children. Moreover, one of our recent studies showed that disorganization, compared to other forms of insecure attachment, was the only salient mediator of the link between CSA and behavior problems in sexually abused preschoolers (Charest et al., 2018).
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2018, Clinical Psychology ReviewA study of associations among attachment patterns, maltreatment, and behavior problem in institutionalized children in Japan
2017, Child Abuse and NeglectCitation Excerpt :On the other hand, a study of preschoolers in Head Start classrooms using the ADPA indicated that ambivalent (resistant) children had a higher externalizing score rated by their parents than did avoidant and disorganized children (Stacks, 2007). Using the Attachment Story Completion Task as the attachment assessment method, Beaudoin, Hėbert and Bernier (2013) found that although clinical levels of internalizing behavior problems were predicted by disorganized attachment, clinical levels of externalizing behavior problems were predicted by not only disorganized attachment but also avoidant attachment among sexually abused preschoolers. Another study reported that the link between disorganized attachment and behavior problems was found only among boys (Hazen, Jacobvitz, Higgins, Allen, & Jin, 2011).