1. Early life maltreatment but not lifetime depression predicts insecure attachment in women
- Author
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Felix Bermpohl, Sabine C. Herpertz, Daniel Fuehrer, Dorothea Kluczniok, Anna-Lena Zietlow, Corinne Neukel, Katja Dittrich, Anna Fuchs, Mitho Mueller, Catherine Hindi Attar, Katja Boedeker, Charlotte Jaite, Nora Nonnenmacher, and Corinna Reck
- Subjects
Adult ,medicine.medical_specialty ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Poison control ,Suicide prevention ,Neglect ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Surveys and Questionnaires ,Injury prevention ,medicine ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Child Abuse ,Psychiatry ,Psychological abuse ,Child ,Depression (differential diagnoses) ,media_common ,Depression ,Adult Survivors of Child Abuse ,05 social sciences ,Obstetrics and Gynecology ,Human factors and ergonomics ,Object Attachment ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Sexual abuse ,Female ,Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,050104 developmental & child psychology ,Clinical psychology - Abstract
Early life maltreatment (ELM) poses a risk for the development of insecure attachment and depression over the life span, depending on the type of maltreatment (physical, sexual, emotional, neglect) and its severity. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of ELM and lifetime depression on adult insecure attachment in a female sample (N = 188), consisting of n = 81 women with ELM and n = 107 without ELM. Women with ELM reported significantly higher scores on insecure attachment than women without ELM. A significant interaction effect for ELM × lifetime depression was found: Contradictory to the hypotheses, women with ELM but without lifetime depression scored highest on avoidant attachment, differing significantly from women with ELM and lifetime depression, even though the severity of ELM was higher among women with ELM and lifetime depression and they experienced significantly more severe neglect and sexual abuse, but not physical or emotional abuse. Regression analyses revealed that ELM was the only predictor of avoidant attachment, explaining 15.5% of the variance. Results underline the strong influence of ELM on adult attachment and are of special importance for prevention and intervention programs.
- Published
- 2016