CHILDHOOD ATTACHMENT AND ABUSE - LONG-TERM EFFECTS ON ADULT ATTACHMENT, DEPRESSION, AND CONFLICT-RESOLUTION

Objective: The primary aim was to determine the relative contributions of early attachment and abuse history to adult attachment, depression , and conflict resolution behaviors. Differences between abused and no nabused respondents were also assessed. Method: A multi-scale question naire was completed by 879 college students. Hierarchical regression a nalyses were used to answer the primary research question, and analyse s also compared the 26.4% of respondents who reported childhood abuse with those who did not. Results: Respondents who indicated they had be en abused as children reported less secure childhood and adult relatio nships than their nonabused counterparts. They were also more depresse d and more likely to use destructive behaviors in conflict situations. Although both adult romantic attachment and respondents' depression s cores were best accounted for by childhood attachment to mother and fa ther rather than abuse history, the opposite pattern of results emerge d for conflict resolution behaviors. In this case, abuse history was t he stronger predictor, and parental attachment did not account for any significant additional variance. Conclusions: Results suggest that th e long-term impact of childhood abuse may be mediated by early attachm ent experiences, whereas the long-term impact of abuse on conflict res olution behaviors may be considerably more direct. (C) 1997 Elsevier S cience Ltd.