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Childhood interpersonal violence exposure (IVE) is associated with repeated victimization in adolescence and adulthood. Research suggests dissociation, a psychological phenomenon characterized by alterations and disruptions to consciousness, memory, and perceptions of the environment, and out-of-body experiences, increases the risk of revictimization. Self-report data from a longitudinal study of 92 violence-exposed adolescent girls from a large, urban area were analyzed to assess whether dissociation predicts polyvictimization or exposure to multiple types of interpersonal violence across adolescence. Participants’ mental and interpersonal health was assessed at four in-person laboratory visits scheduled across 3.5 years (i.e., T1–T4). IVE included direct or indirect victimization experienced at home, school, the neighborhood, or town, such as child maltreatment, domestic violence, peer victimization, dating aggression, and community violence. Polyvictimization was operationalized as a composite score of the different types of IVE endorsed by the participant or caregiver. A random-intercept cross-lagged panel model was used to test the bidirectional relationships between dissociation and polyvictimization longitudinally. Cross-lagged regressions were analyzed to determine whether dissociation and polyvictimization predicted subsequent dissociation symptoms and polyvictimization. Concurrent and previous dissociation significantly accounted for polyvictimization at T2, T3, and T4. Polyvictimization did not significantly predict future dissociation symptoms. The results from this study provide support for dissociation’s unique contribution to polyvictimization among violence-exposed girls, making it an important target for clinical assessment and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The study experimentally investigated shame-induced dissociation, and to what extent that process was associated with exposure to childhood maltreatment., Method: Using a shame-related script-driven imagery paradigm and mirror-viewing task, 50 female participants from the community recalled two shame-related and two neutral autobiographical memories, after which they listened to recordings of themselves retelling the narratives looking in a mirror or at a black curtain (i.e., mirror-viewing task)., Results: Shame-related memories compared to neutral memories resulted in higher rates of dissociation. The relationship between shame and dissociation was significantly moderated by experiential avoidance or avoidance of unwanted cognitive and affective reactions. In contrast to previous research, looking in the mirror and childhood maltreatment severity did not predict dissociative responses., Conclusions: The strong relationship between shame and dissociation suggests the importance of monitoring patients' affect and behavior when revisiting shame-related memories, to not reinforce dissociative reactions and inadvertently foster treatment resistance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).