The Mediating Effect of Trait Dissociation between Childhood Abuse and Neglect and Revictimization in Women

Kischko, Lennart (2023) The Mediating Effect of Trait Dissociation between Childhood Abuse and Neglect and Revictimization in Women. Master thesis, Psychology.

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Abstract

Childhood maltreatment can occur as child abuse or child neglect. The experience of either maltreatment in childhood can have life-lasting consequences for victims, increased risk of revictimization in adulthood being one of them. Moreover, previous research found a link between childhood maltreatment and dissociation. We hypothesized that the experience of childhood maltreatment would predict revictimization in adulthood and that trait dissociation would mediate the relationship. Child abuse was hypothesized to have a greater effect than child neglect in this regard. Participants were recruited by a merged effort at the University of Groningen and University of Amsterdam either in a laboratory or online. All 742 participants were first-year psychology students from the Netherlands and various other countries. Results show a significant direct effect of childhood maltreatment towards adulthood victimization. However, no support for an indirect effect of trait dissociation was found toward adulthood victimization. We could not find a significant difference between child abuse and child neglect. However, when only including child neglect, the indirect effect of trait dissociation was significant. In line with previous research, the current study implies that young women that have experienced childhood maltreatment in either form of child abuse or child neglect are at greater risk for revictimization in adulthood. Limitations were a cross-sectional design that does not allow making causal predictions, a high drop-out rate after the first wave of data collection, and that findings are strictly limited to female college students. Keywords: childhood maltreatment, child abuse, child neglect, trait dissociation, revictimization

Item Type:	Thesis (Master)
Supervisor name:	Fereidooni, F.
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	Clinical Psychology (CP) [Master Psychology]
Date Deposited:	30 Jan 2023 15:21
Last Modified:	30 Jan 2023 15:21
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1605

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