title: Childhood sexual abuse and attachment insecurities as predictors of women's own and perceived-partner extradyadic involvement.
abstract: We examined the association between self-reported childhood sexual abuse and a woman's own and perceived-partner extradyadic involvement (EDI). The association was examined both directly and as potentially mediated by attachment-related anxiety and avoidance in a sample of 807 French Canadian women. In line with our hypotheses, we found that a personal history of CSA is associated with a woman's own and perceived-partner EDI and with the woman's levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance. The association between CSA and own EDI was partially mediated by attachment-related avoidance. The results suggest that a sense of betrayal stemming from CSA predisposes a woman to avoidance, which in turn predisposes her to EDI. The association between CSA and perceived-partner EDI was partially mediated by both attachment anxiety and avoidance. These results suggest that victims of CSA become suspicious of others' relational behavior and intentions, which contribute to attachment-related anxiety and avoidance and both own and perceived-partner EDI.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Davis, United States.
authors.forename: María Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Frías
authors.affiliation: Université de Sherbrooke, Canada.
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brassard
authors.affiliation: University of California, Davis, United States.
authors.forename: Phillip R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Shaver
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D002170:Canada; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005114:Extramarital Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D016015:Logistic Models; D009769:Object Attachment; D012649:Self Concept; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attachment insecurities; Childhood sexual abuse; Extradyadic involvement; Mediation