The effects of childhood sexual abuse on adult male attachments in close relationships

摘要

Over the past two decades society has become more aware of the prevalence and impactof childhood sexual abuse (CSA). While society has become more aware of this problem, thereis still much that remains unknown. This is evident especially in regard to the effects of CSA onadult males. There are several reasons for this; one such reason is that males who come totherapy are rarely asked about sexual abuse histories. However, the effects of CSA are oftenquite severe for males. One area particularly affected is adult close relationships. Attachmenttheory offers a way to conceptualize how people interact in close relationships. In this study, theinfluence of CSA on adult male relationships was examined. Seven hypotheses examined werethat males who were abused by a male, males who were abused for a longer period of time,males who were abused at an earlier age, males who perceived little support from their familywith regards to the abuse, males who were abused by a family member, males who were abusedmore frequently, and males who were abuse more severely would be more likely to have aninsecure attachment than other males. These CSA characteristics were measured by theChildhood Sexual Experiences Questionnaire and the Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ).Although limitations to this study make it difficult to reject the null hypothesis and to makestatements that these results reflect the population, findings generally confirm the statedhypotheses.