Are the self-esteem and the adult attachment affected by previous experiences of youth victimization?

Catarina Teixeira

, Catarina Santos

, Rafaela Diogo

and Telma Catarina Almeida

1IUEM - Instituto Universitário Egas Moniz, Caparica, Portugal; ²CiiEM – Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar Egas Moniz, IUEM

Are the self-esteem and the adult attachment affected by previous experiences of youth

victimization?

Introduction:

Materials and Methods:

Results:

Conclusion and Discussion:

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

1. Total CTQ .826^** .732^** .701^** .817^** .763^** -.640^** -.161 -.096 .198^* -.259^** -.183 2. Emotional

Abuse --- .558^** .493^** .626^** .490^** -.606^** -.233^* .002 .349,^** -.266^** -.249^* 3. Emotional

Neglect --- .238^* .430^** .660^** -.842^** -.201^* -.119 .174 -.346^** -.107

4. Sexual Abuse --- .659^** .364^** -.324^** -.026 -.125 .065 -.145 -.136

5. Physical Abuse --- .517^** -.420^** .029 .027 .049 -.045 .007

6. Physical

Neglect --- -.599^** -.235^* -.130 .158 -.244^* -.185

7. Minimization/

Denial --- .260^** .071 -.256^** .369^** .135

8. Self-Esteem --- -.015 -.590^** .511^** .354^**

9. Attachment --- .369^** .477^** .445^**

10. Anxiety --- -.409^** -.519^**

11. Close --- .362,^**

12. Depend ---

The sample comprised 109 Portuguese participants:

• Between 18 and 68 years old (M= 33.96, SD = 13.97),

• The majority was female (n = 82, 77.4%).

Participants:

• Sociodemographic questionnaire;

• Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-SF) [6];

• Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) [7];

• Adult Attachment Scale-R (AAS-R) [8].

Measures:

• Were inserted the questionnaires in Google Docs.

• The link to complete the questionnaires was disseminated.

• The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki.

Procedure:

Table 1

Correlations between Childhood Trauma, Self-Esteem, and Attachment (n= 109).

Note.* p <0,05; ** p <0,01

vIn this research, emotional abuse was correlated significantly and negatively, with self-esteem, as in the study by Brodski and Hutz [1]. There was also a positive correlation between emotional abuse and attachment anxiety, which is in line with the results of Muller and colleagues in 2010. That study reported that 76% of adults who experienced emotional abuse during childhood developed an insecure attachment in adulthood [1].

vSome authors have found that some specific types of child abuse such as emotional neglect predict a low level of self-esteem [9]. The results of our study are corroborated by this research, showing a negative correlation between emotional neglect and self-esteem.

vOur research highlights the relationship between experiences of youth victimization and the increase of attachment anxiety in adulthood, decreased self- esteem, comfort with proximity and confidence in others concerning the attachment in adults.

vSome studies pointed out that child trauma victimization affects attachment styles in the love relationship [2]. The insecure attachment styles are negatively associated with self-esteem [1], and also, most of the problems related to traumatic events are significantly associated with low self-esteem [10].

vFurther studies with a larger sample are recommended to evaluate those variables.

References:

[1] Liu, C., Chen, X., Song, P., Lu, A., Wang, L., Zhang, X., & Huang, Z. (2018). Relationship between childhood emotional abuse and self-esteem: A dual mediation model of attachment. Social Behavior & Personality,46(5), 793-800. doi: 10.2224/sbp.6655 [2] Yumbul, C., Cavusoglu, S., & Geyimci, B. (2010). The effect of childhood trauma on adult attachment styles, infidelity tendency, romantic jealousy and self-esteem. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 5, 1741-1745. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.07.357 [3] Custódio, S., Domingues, C., Vicente, L., Silva, M., Dias, M., & Coelho, S. (2010). Auto-conceito/auto-estima e vinculação nas relações de namoro em estudantes do ensino secundário. Actas do VII Simpósio Nacional de Investigação em Psicologia, 1615-1628.

[4] Muller, R. T., Sicoli, L. A., & Lemieux, K. E. (2000). Relationship between attachment style and posttraumatic stress symptomatology among adults who report the experience of childhood abuse. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 13(2), 321-332. doi: 10.1023/a:1007752719557 [5] Brodski, S. K. & Hutz, C. S. (2012). The repercussions of emotional abuse and parenting styles on self-esteem, subjective well-being: A retrospective study with university students in Brazil. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 21(3), 256-276. doi: 10.1080/10926771.2012.666335 [6] Dias, A., Sales, L., Carvalho, A., Vale, I. C., Kleber, R., & Cardoso, R. M. (2013). Estudo de propriedades psicométricas do questionário de trauma de infância – Versão breve numa amostra portuguesa não clínica. Laboratório de Psicologia, 11(2), 103-120. doi:10.14417/lp.

[7] Santos, P. J. & Maia, J. (2003). Análise factorial confirmatória e validação preliminar de uma versão portuguesa da escala de auto-estima de Rosenberg. Psicologia: Teoria, Investigação e Prática, 8(2), 253-268.

[8] Canavarro, M. C., Dias, P., & Lima, V. (2006). A avaliação da vinculação do adulto: Uma revisão crítica a propósito da aplicação da Adult Attachment Scale-R (AAS-R) na população portuguesa. Psicologia, 20(1), 155-186. doi: 10.17575/rpsicol.v20i1.381 [9] Waldron, J. C., Scarpa, A., & Kim-Spoon, J. (2018). Religiosity and interpersonal problems explain individual differences in self esteem among young adults with child maltreatment experiences. Child Abuse Neglect, 80, 277-284. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.03.023 [10] Mwakanyamale, A. A., Wande, D. P., & Yizhen, Y. (2018). Multi-type child maltreatment: Prevalence and its relationship with self-esteem among secondary school students in Tanzania. BMC Psychology, 6(35), 2-8. doi: 10.1186/s40359-018-0244-1

• CTQ-SF: Comprised of 5 subscales: Emotional Abuse, Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Physical Neglect, and Emotional Neglect. It is also composed of the Minimization/Denial Index [6].

• RSES: Evaluates self-esteem. Higher endpoint means higher levels of self-esteem [7].

• AAS-R: Evaluates attachment in adults. Composed of 3 dimensions: Anxiety, Close and Depend [8].

vSome researches show the impact of the traumatic experiences of emotional abuse during childhood in an insecure attachment style [4], leading to a negative attitude towards oneself and towards others [1]. Studies also show that child abuse is a significant predictor of low self-esteem in adulthood [5].

vThe main objective of the current study was to analyze the relationship between the youth victimization trauma, the self-esteem in adulthood and the adult attachment.

Traumatic situations that the child or adolescent experienced as a

result of abuse or neglect [1].

Positive/negative attitude of the individual towards

oneself [2].

A process by which the individual establishes a close relationship

with a significant person [3].

Youth Trauma Victimization Self-Esteem Attachment