Objective: The sexual abuse of children has been gaining attention as a serious problem over the last several decades. Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is any sexual contact with a child by force, threat, or deceit to secure the child’s participation, or any sexual contact with a child, who is incapable of consenting by virtue of age, disability, or power differential. Although children of both genders are vulnerable to CSA, girls are considered at a higher risk. There is undeniable evidence that CSA is associated with a substantial increased risk of psychopathology, especially post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and substance abuse. Interpersonal problems are some of the most common issues among people who were sexually abused as children. Particularly when the parent perpetrates the sexual abuse, it harms a child’s lifelong ability to establish trusting and intimate relationships. Attachment is a condition that affects both individual’s inner self and affiliations. There are studies reporting that there is insecure attachment in abused children rather than secure attachment. In this study we are going to see the effects of abuse on peer and parent attachment.
Method: Among patients presented to Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department of Erciyes University, Medicine School, 30 abused children aged 11-15 years were included to the study. Sociodemographic data sheet about children and abuse were completed by child psychiatrist. Relationship Scale Questionnaire and Parental and Peer Attachment Scale were applied to abused children.
Results: There were 24 girls and 6 boys. The mean age of groups was 13.57±1.1. 3 of the children were in primary school, 18 children were in secondary school and 9 children were in high school. 12 of them had no psychopathology. 6 of them were PTSD, 6 of them were adjustment disorder, 5 of them were suffering from acute stress reaction and 1 of them was in depression. The mean score for fearful attachment was 3.84±1.12 and it was the highest one. Then respectively, preoccupied attachment was 3.81±1.07, dismissing attachment was 3.53±1.32, secure attachment was 3.30±1.15 in the group. The mean score of attachment to mother was 60.10±14.4, and to father was 59.53±15.35.
Conclusion: In our study, insecure attachment to peers was found to be significantly higher than healthy peers. The highest rate was found in fearful attachment to peers in both girls and boys. The mean score of attachment to parents were lower than non maltreated children. The scientific literature categorically holds that CSA has severe, negative effects on mental health, increasing the probability of developing some form of psychopathology, whether short-, medium-, or long-term. The literature on attachment maintains that CSA negatively affects the quality of children’s attachment representations, which has important repercussions for later psychological development study reported child victims of CSA to exhibit a lower proportion of secure attachment and a higher proportion of disorganized attachment than their non maltreated peers. Further studies with a larger sample size are needed in this topic.