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Behavior problems in sexually abused preschoolers over a 1-year period: The mediating role of attachment representations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2018

Florence Charest ,
Martine Hébert ,
Annie Bernier ,
Rachel Langevin  and
Raphaële Miljkovitch
Florence Charest
Affiliation:
Université du Québec à Montréal
Martine Hébert*
Affiliation:
Université du Québec à Montréal
Annie Bernier
Affiliation:
Université de Montréal
Rachel Langevin
Affiliation:
Concordia University
Raphaële Miljkovitch
Affiliation:
Université Paris 8
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Martine Hébert, Department of Sexology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Case Postale 8888, Succursale Centre-Ville, Québec, Canada H3C 3P8; E-mail: hebert.m@uqam.ca.
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Abstract

According to the developmental psychopathology framework, adverse childhood experiences, including child sexual abuse (CSA), may alter the course of normal development in children. Attachment security has been identified as a protective factor against psychopathology and may thus play a critical role in predicting victims’ adaptation. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the mediating effect of attachment representations in the relation between CSA and behavior problems over a 1-year period. The sample consisted of 391 children (251 sexually abused) aged 3.5 to 6 years. The Attachment Story Completion Task and the Child Behavior Checklist were used. Disorganized attachment partially mediated the relation between CSA and children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems 1 year following the initial assessment. This mediation effect was not found for ambivalent nor secure attachment dimensions. Child gender was found to moderate the association between CSA and disorganization, with larger effects of CSA among boys. These findings underscore the importance of considering attachment representations in treatment programs for preschool victims. Evidence-based practice focusing on trauma could be combined with an attachment-based intervention targeting the parent–child relationship. Moreover, interventions should be gender sensitive, as CSA appears to affect boys and girls differently.

Keywords

attachmentbehavior problemschild sexual abusemediationpreschoolers
Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , May 2019 , pp. 471 - 481
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

This research was supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Grant SSHRC # 2424 (to M.H.) and a PhD fellowship from the Fonds de recherche du Québec- Société et Culture (to F.C.). We wish to thank the families who participated in this study as well as the practitioners from the different intervention settings involved in this project.

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